Abstract
This study investigates how digital communication platforms accelerate the evolution of the English language among university students in Uzbekistan aged 18–21. By analyzing social media discourse through a mixed-methods approach, the research identifies a significant integration of neologisms, acronyms, and altered syntactic structures into the students' daily linguistic repertoire. The findings conclude that social media acts as a primary catalyst for linguistic drift, necessitating a shift in pedagogical strategies to address the narrowing gap between formal and digital English registers.
References
1. Bozkurt, A. (2023). Language evolution in the age of digital transformation. Journal of Educational Technology.
2. Crystal, D. (2021). The English Language: A Guided Tour of Every Anthology (Revised Edition). Penguin Books.
3. Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2016). Pronunciation Fundamentals: Evidence-based Perspectives for L2 Teaching and Research. John Benjamins Publishing.
4. Gretter, S., & Yadav, A. (2016). Computational thinking and media literacy as 21st-century literacies. Journal of Media Literacy Education.
5. Kachru, B. B. (2017). World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.
6. Lee, C. (2023). Multilingualism Online. Routledge.
7. Mcculloch, G. (2019). Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Riverhead Books.
8. Seidlhofer, B. (2018). Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford University Press.
9. Zappavigna, M. (2018). Searchable Talk: Hashtags and Social Media Metadiscourse. Bloomsbury Academic.