Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter

Social media communication has its own language features and one aspect is modified spelling of standard words. Social media users use shortened words with full awareness of the meanings, and new non-standard words are constantly added to the repertoire of social media language. A pertinent question...

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Main Authors: Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman, Ting, Su-Hie, Chuah, Kee-Man
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/1/JkSI_22.pdf
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author Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman,
Ting, Su-Hie
Chuah, Kee-Man
author_facet Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman,
Ting, Su-Hie
Chuah, Kee-Man
author_sort Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Social media communication has its own language features and one aspect is modified spelling of standard words. Social media users use shortened words with full awareness of the meanings, and new non-standard words are constantly added to the repertoire of social media language. A pertinent question is whether social media users learn these non-standard words to use or whether they also contribute to the vocabulary used in social media communication. The study examined Malaysian millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter and their reasons for shortening words. For the non-standard words, data were collected from 200 active Twitter users whereas data on reasons for shortening words were collected from 30 users. The results showed that the Malaysian millennials frequently used non-standard spelling of words. The three top words were “ni” (this), “nak” (want), and X (negation). The main reasons for the Twitter users to shorten words were the 280-character limit per tweet, user convenience, and characteristics of words. The Twitter users felt free to create new spellings of standard words at times for fun, but most of the time, they use the common non-standard words. The Malaysian millennials reported that they were inclined to shorten long and complex words, and words with many vowels. The study suggests that Twitter users balance between speed in communication and preservation of meaning when using non-standard words.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:215892023-05-16T04:13:23Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/ Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman, Ting, Su-Hie Chuah, Kee-Man Social media communication has its own language features and one aspect is modified spelling of standard words. Social media users use shortened words with full awareness of the meanings, and new non-standard words are constantly added to the repertoire of social media language. A pertinent question is whether social media users learn these non-standard words to use or whether they also contribute to the vocabulary used in social media communication. The study examined Malaysian millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter and their reasons for shortening words. For the non-standard words, data were collected from 200 active Twitter users whereas data on reasons for shortening words were collected from 30 users. The results showed that the Malaysian millennials frequently used non-standard spelling of words. The three top words were “ni” (this), “nak” (want), and X (negation). The main reasons for the Twitter users to shorten words were the 280-character limit per tweet, user convenience, and characteristics of words. The Twitter users felt free to create new spellings of standard words at times for fun, but most of the time, they use the common non-standard words. The Malaysian millennials reported that they were inclined to shorten long and complex words, and words with many vowels. The study suggests that Twitter users balance between speed in communication and preservation of meaning when using non-standard words. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/1/JkSI_22.pdf Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman, and Ting, Su-Hie and Chuah, Kee-Man (2022) Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter. Jurnal Komunikasi ; Malaysian Journal of Communication, 38 (4). pp. 397-411. ISSN 0128-1496 https://ejournal.ukm.my/mjc/issue/view/1570
spellingShingle Nur Nashatul Nasuha Nazman,
Ting, Su-Hie
Chuah, Kee-Man
Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title_full Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title_fullStr Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title_full_unstemmed Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title_short Uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in Twitter
title_sort uncovering factors influencing millennials’ use of non-standard words in twitter
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21589/1/JkSI_22.pdf