Generation Z's unique language: Quite difficult to understand

It is becoming increasingly difficult to understand the language that Generation Z has developed among themselves.

"Boomer, viral, cringe, trend, random, slay, rizz, meme, shipping, ghosting, catching a vibe..." These are words that Generation Z has developed and uses very frequently.

"Generation Z" is a term used for children born after 1997. Generation Z, who were practically born into technology, are also called the "test generation" by educators.

According to Generation Z, reading long texts is boring. That is why they think they express themselves with short phrases or emojis.

According to Prof. Dr. Ali Murat Kırık, while the creation of a unique communication language by Generation Z is interesting in terms of cultural diversity and creativity, this situation has a negative impact on the richness of the Turkish language.

Expressing concern that the language being filled with foreign words could erode the unique structure of Turkish, Kırık says, "These new expressions adopted by young people limit access to the rich vocabulary of Turkish, causing thoughts to be expressed within a narrower framework. Especially in education and academic writing, the adoption of such superficial expressions and abbreviations weakens the language's ability to be a sufficiently powerful tool for serious subjects."

Emphasizing that the written expressions of young people are far from the rules of the language, sloppy, and sometimes have an inconsistent structure, Kırık concludes his words as follows: "In an academic context, these deficiencies can prevent thoughts from being expressed clearly and cause the reader to have difficulty understanding. Placing more importance on the development of written communication skills during the education process can help young people overcome their shortcomings in this area."

Doğuş University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlknur Doğu Öztürk explains that Generation Z is the first generation to grow up in the digital age, providing the information that, "Perhaps as a result of this, they have developed a unique language that reflects their adaptation to digitalization." Öztürk's findings are as follows: "We are witnessing a different language formed by using excessive foreign words to a level that we could call the degeneration of the language, with sentences that violate grammatical rules and abbreviations they invented themselves. In practice, the language usage that facilitates dialogue among Generation Z can become risky in terms of their communication with other generations."

Explaining that they use weaker Turkish when they need to establish formal written communication and cannot fully express themselves, Öztürk said: "This is a problem with the potential to damage intergenerational relationships. Seeing Generation Z's language usage as a change rather than a problem and showing that we respect this communication style makes it easier to reach an agreement. They have been intertwined with the test technique throughout all their education. Partly because of this, they use quite short sentences when we communicate verbally.

When they start university, they have almost never written a formal petition before. When they need to establish written communication in petitions, emails, or exams, they have serious deficiencies in punctuation. They write quite briefly, and written texts can remain more superficial."

Selçuk Duman, Director of the Turkish Language Teaching Application and Research Center (ÜSTÖMER), also stated that the widespread use of many abbreviations in the informal correspondence of the young population, such as omitting vowels to write "tmm" (okay), "nbr" (what's up), "tşk" (thanks), the frequent inclusion of foreign-origin words, and the increasing reliance on emoji figures continue to grow, adding, “The virtual environment has opened a space conducive to the degeneration of our Turkish language.”

Duman issued the following warnings: "The reflections of these forms of expression in the language can leave negative effects, especially in the long term. According to research, abbreviations, slang, and jargon used in written language can pave the way for the weakening of reading and writing skills, especially in new generations. However, we observe language deformations such as incorrect spelling and expression disorders in the written and oral expressions of our young people.”