This article examines the evolving relationship between language and social media, focusing on how technological innovation has transformed communication practices and linguistic expression. It traces the shift from oral and textual communication to multimodal interaction involving abbreviations, acronyms, emojis, GIFs, pictograms, and memes. The study analyzes how character limits, instant messaging, and social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram have influenced vocabulary expansion, semantic change, condensation of language, and new forms of expression. Drawing on linguistic, semiotic, and cultural perspectives, the paper discusses debates surrounding linguistic evolution versus degeneration, the global spread of internet slang, and the dominance of English in digital communication. It concludes that social media simultaneously enriches language through innovation while compressing emotional and verbal expression into symbolic and visual forms.
Research Scholar, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
