Decoding Digital Talk: Gen Z Understanding of Slang in Digital Communication

Abstract

Online communication tools such as Whatsapp have changed the way we use language and slang has become the most prominent feature in Generation Z’s mode of communication. The purpose of the study is to establish how slang influences meanings, misunderstanding and interpretation of WhatsApp discourse among Gen Z users. This research is useful as it contributes to digital sociolinguistics in the digital communication environment by way of exploring mean making in informal language and using contextual clues and shared cultural knowledge in the process. The study was designed as both quantitative and qualitative and data collection was performed with a self-administered online questionnaire including open-ended and close-ended questions. The underlying theory for the analysis is based on Grice's Pragmatics to analyze contextual inference and implicature, and Barthes' Semiotics, to dig into slang as culture symbol and code. Results indicate that slang is effective as a communicative tool when both interlocutors can be said to share contextual and cultural knowledge but not particularly efficient in communicating those who do not possess such knowledge. It finds meaning in WhatsApp messages not to be pre-defined but co-constructed through pragmatics-inference and semiotics-interpretation, thus putting into stress the importance of context and cultural identity in the use of digital language.

Keywords: Digital Communication, Slang, WhatsApp, Generation Z, Meaning Construction, Pragmatics