Study of Language Change by the Promotion of Informal Language, Orthography and Words with Multiple Meanings on Facebook

Tayyaba Saharoof, Shafaq Shakeel, Shahid Hussain

Abstract

Facebook has promoted the use of informal language among both teens and adults. This social website has resulted in the deterioration of orthographic knowledge of both age groups due to the use of non-standard spellings. This social media engine has also contributed to the destruction of the word knowledge of users. Most of the users are aware of the context in which the English words are employed on Facebook but are unaware of their standard dictionary meanings. All these factors combine in effecting the formal academic writing and social interaction of these users. This research aims at finding out the language change due to the use of informal language, orthography, and words with multiple meanings on Facebook. The study has investigated the corrosion of the formal language of Facebook users. The current study was conducted by following the mixed-method approach in a way that twenty Facebook public pages, administrated by teens and adults were analyzed and also survey questionnaire filled by Intermediate and Graduate students. The results showed that teens are an easy victim of this up-thrust of technology as compared to adults. The results of the study gave a visual display of the effect of orthography by the use of informal language and the words with multiple meanings on social interactions and formal writing of both teens and adults.