The relationship between orthographic variations and phonological and phonetic representations in Sri Lankan social media

Abstract

Today, an increasing number of individuals are continuously occupied with social media platforms in their daily life, utilizing computers and hand-held electronic devices for sharing and viewing the content on their media walls. This research aimed to analyze the phonological and phonetic variations in social media language used by a sample of 18-30 years of age selected from different social, educational and geographical backgrounds in Sri Lanka. Sociolinguists argue that phonological variations occur due to the speed of technological innovations, and, as a result, such variations violate the traditional linguistics purism. The present study focused on identifying and analyzing the relationship between orthographic variations and the phonological and phonetic representations and their characteristics in social media language. The study enabled the identification of the frequently used phonological feature/s among youth in different situations. The data collection was limited to Facebook posts and WhatsApp conversations. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to analyze the content and the frequency of occurrences. The research identified the most and the least popular phonological features in Sri Lanka. The findings highlighted not only the speed but also the freedom and other facilities as reasons which encourage the creativity of the users to form new forms of phonological features and suggested that the sociolinguists must pay more attention to the identified upcoming issues related to the language used in social media.