Language, in simple terms is a means of communication and social media in the present scenario is a platform that enables communication, interaction, and exchange of ideas, connection and everything that encompasses human relationship. Language has existed ever since humanity came into existence. Social media is a technical innovation which has gradually assembled its position to a higher pedestal. Social media makes use of oral, written and multi modal sources. Language has witnessed a considerable shift owing to the social media interactions and online discourse. Selfie, groupies, WhatsApp, Facebooking, surfing, unfriend, unlike, etc. is still not recognised by the MSWord lexicon but has earned a place in our daily communication. Similarly, words have reduced to pictorial or visual representations in the form of smileys or GIF’s. Technology has influenced language both ways. On the one hand it has evolved and added to the vocabulary and semantics of a language, while on the other it has compressed emotions to a mere facial representation, some signs and the semiotic wordplay. My aim is to evaluate these changes and study the influence of social media on our everyday language.
Research Scholar, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
