The intelligibility of internet slangs between millennials and Gen Zers: A comparative study

Abstract

The study focuses on the emergence of modern-day neologisms (i.e., internet slang) in social media and everyday conversations, with the aim of exploring the language gap between Millennials and Gen Z. These generations exhibit distinct linguistic characteristics compared to previous generations. The research investigates whether Millennials can comprehend and relate to the new emerging words or if they encounter confusion. This quantitative research was conducted at the local college in Opol, Misamis Oriental. The 100 respondents were selected based on registered quota sampling. The findings highlight a significant positive correlation between Millennials and Gen Z regarding modern-day net slang. However, Gen Z often understands metathesis forms of words to conceal syntactical features during the discourse more than millennials. This study recommends itself as a valuable source of data for further investigations into the proliferation of modern-day neologisms among Millennials and Gen Z on the internet.