EXPLORING GEN Z'S LINGUISTIC PRACTICES: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF EMERGING DIALECTS IN A MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY

Abstract

This study explores the language of Generation Zoomers (Gen Z) as emerging dialects in a multilingual society – Lagos, Nigeria. With the rapid changes in communication styles driven by social media, this research investigates how the distinct linguistic patterns of Gen Z reflect their socio-cultural identities. Data were collected from 140 final-year students across two higher institutions (a university and a college of technology) in Lagos using classroom-based slang lists, semi-structured interviews and WhatsApp chat verification. The collected expressions were thematically categorised and analysed for their semantic features, morphological processes (coinage, clipping, blending, reduplication, borrowing, acronyms, and semantic shift), and sociolinguistic functions, drawing on concepts from Interactional Sociolinguistics to interpret how these expressions operate in social interaction. The study identifies and categorises over 150 expressions across fifteen domains of student life, including intelligence, examination practices, money, relationships, and moral conduct. The findings reveal that Gen Z linguistic practices are broader and more complex than slang, encompassing a range of word-formation processes and serving as markers of identity, in-group solidarity, and social hierarchy. The study is restricted to student-related activities; other societal activities are reserved for future investigation. The findings suggest that Gen Z language – a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires using a system of voluntarily produced symbols – serves as a marker of identity and impacts the dynamics of multilingual interaction in contemporary society. The paper argues that these linguistic patterns demonstrate evidence of evolving into an emerging dialect within Nigerian English.