DIGITAL COMMUNICATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF JARGON IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstract

Digital communication has become an important catalyst of lexical change in contemporary languages. This article examines how digital communication contributes to the formation and evolution of jargon in English and Uzbek, two typologically distinct languages that participate in the same technological environment of social networks, instant messengers, and online communities. The study uses a comparative descriptive approach and synthesizes findings reported in previous linguistic research on English internet jargon and Uzbek digital discourse. The analysis focuses on word-formation mechanisms, including abbreviation and acronymisation, blending and clipping, affixation, semantic change, direct borrowing, phonological adaptation, and platform-specific coinage. The reviewed literature indicates that English digital jargon frequently develops through abbreviation, blending, clipping, semantic extension, and platform-related coinage, whereas Uzbek digital jargon is strongly influenced by borrowing from English and Russian and by the integration of borrowed bases into Uzbek morphological patterns. Despite these formal differences, both languages use digital jargon for efficient communication, group identification, generational differentiation, and the expression of digital-community membership. Because the present study is based on secondary sources rather than a newly collected corpus, the findings are interpreted as an integrative comparative account rather than as statistically representative evidence.