The Impact of Social Media on Language Change and Variation: A Contemporary Analysis

Abstract

Language changes when its users develop a variation that does not conform to its grammatical norms. However, the non-conforming variant need to be transmitted to a wider audience before language change is facilitated. Unfortunately, little or no interest has given to the communication channel that can facilitate language change and variation in contemporary society. The aim of this study, therefore, is to examine and identify the impact of social media on language change and variation. Data are collected through the observation method from four WhatsApp groups for students and lecturers at Federal College of Education, Technical, Umunze, after the interactions of the members are studied. Collected data are analysed qualitatively, using the descriptive approach. Labov’s Golden Age Principles provides the theoretical anchor for identifying, categorising, and describing data, whereby the study discovers the use of non-conforming variety of the English language in the studied interactions. The findings of the study reveal that both students and lecturers use acronyms, abbreviations, fragmented sentences, new terms, and non-conforming spelling pattern in their social media interactions. The study, therefore, concludes that social media facilitates language change and variation and recommends further studies on the permeation of social media-facilitated changes in a speech community.