WORD SHORTENINGS IN GEN Z SLANG: IYKYK

Abstract

Even though linguistic innovation has always been synonymous with youth culture in the modern world, the rise of the internet and social media platforms has fundamentally and permanently transformed the way this language is created and shared. As a result, the Gen Z slang has appeared – a variety truly unique, and often confusing and opaque to older, less tech-savvy generations. To better understand this unique digital lexicon, this mixed-methods paper explored the use and characteristics of Gen Z slang, focusing specifically on acronyms, initialisms, and clippings. To do so, popular Gen Z websites and apps were initially screened to identify key terms. Then, a sample of non-native English speakers, Gen zers themselves, was surveyed, to check if these speakers actually understand and use the selected terms. The findings show that even those who didn't grow up speaking English fluently have surprisingly high levels of comprehension and use of this digital slang.