“Boomer, viral, cringe, current, random, slay, riz, mim, ship, ghost, get vibe…” These words may seem to be used in a foreign language, but these are the words developed by Generation Z. The definition of “Generation Z” is used for children born after 1997. Generation Z, which was almost born into technology, is also called the test generation according to educators. However, this situation causes problems in the use of some communication and language skills. According to Generation Z, reading long texts is boring. That is why they think that they express themselves with short expressions and even emojis. .
IT WEAKENS TURKISH
Marmara University Faculty of Communication Radio, TV and Cinema Department Head Prof. Dr. According to Ali Murat Kırık, Although Generation Z’s creation of a unique communication language is interesting in terms of cultural diversity and creativity, this situation has a negative impact on the richness of Turkish. Kırık, who is concerned that filling the language with foreign words may erode the unique structure of Turkish, said, “These new expressions adopted by young people limit access to the rich vocabulary of Turkish and cause thoughts to be expressed in a narrower framework. Especially in educational and academic writing, such superficial expressions and abbreviations are used.” “The adoption of language undermines its ability to be a powerful enough tool for serious topics,” he says.
THEY ARE AWAY FROM LANGUAGE RULES
Underlining that young people’s written expressions are far from the rules of the language, have a careless and sometimes inconsistent structure, Kırık concludes his words as follows: “In an academic context, these deficiencies are Can prevent clear expression of thoughts and may cause the reader difficulty in understanding. “Paying more attention to the development of written communication skills during the education process can help young people overcome their deficiencies in this field.”
CONTRADICTORY SENTENCES
Doğuş University Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. İlknur Doğu Öztürk explains that Generation Z is the first generation to grow up in the digital age and adds, “Perhaps with the influence of this, they have developed a unique language that reflects their adaptation to digitalization.” Öztürk’s findings are as follows: “Using excessive foreign words to the extent that we can call the corruption of the language, consisting of ungrammatical sentences and self-invented abbreviations. We are witnessing a different language. “In practice, the language use of Generation Z, which facilitates their dialogue among themselves, can become risky in terms of their communication with other generations.”
THEIR TURKISH IS POOR
Explaining that they use a weaker Turkish when they have to communicate officially in written form and cannot fully express themselves, Öztürk said: “This is a problem that has the potential to damage intergenerational relations. Generation Z sees language use as a change, not a problem, and shows that we respect this style of communication.” It makes understanding easier. They are familiar with the test technique throughout their education. As a result, they use very short sentences when we communicate verbally. When they start university, they have almost never written a petition before. They have serious deficiencies in punctuation when they need to communicate in writing, such as petitions, e-mails or exams. “They write quite briefly and the written texts can remain more superficial.”
CORRUPTION CONCERN
Selçuk Duman, Director of the Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center (ÜSTÖMER), said that in the informal correspondence of the young population, the abandonment of vowels and the widespread use of many words such as “tmm”, “nbr”, “tşk”, etc. He also stated that their giving and using emoji figures continue to increase. “The virtual environment has opened an area suitable for the degeneration of our Turkish language.” he said.
Duman made the following warnings: “The reflections of these forms of expression in the language can have negative effects, especially in the long term. According to research, abbreviations, slang and jargon used in the written language can lead to the weakening of the reading and writing skills of new generations. However, incorrect spellings and errors in the written and oral expressions of our young people.” “We observe language deformations such as impaired expression.”
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