Slang Innovation and Lexical Creativity in Generation Z Pakistani English Urdu Hybrid Digital Communication: A Corpus-Based Sociolinguistic Investigation

Abstract

This study investigates slang innovation and lexical creativity in Generation Z Pakistani English-Urdu hybrid digital communication, addressing a gap in existing scholarship that has documented code-mixing frequency without systematically classifying its structural patterns, motivations, or platform variation. Grounded in Gumperz's (1982) Contextualization Cues Theory, the study pursued four objectives: identifying recurring slang formation patterns, classifying lexical innovations structurally, examining sociolinguistic motivations, and analyzing platform-based variation. Data were collected from Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp over three months from a population of approximately 500 Pakistani Gen Z social media users (aged 18–25) across Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and Faisalabad. Using purposive sampling, 200 users (50 per city) were selected, yielding a 2,000-sample corpus (700 Instagram, 700 TikTok, 600 WhatsApp), analyzed through AntConc-style corpus frequency/concordance tools and NVivo-based thematic coding. Findings show that word-level mixing dominates, four structural coinage categories exist (blends, clippings, direct borrowings, calques), four motivations drive hybrid usage (identity performance, emotional intensification, humor, efficiency), and each platform cultivates a distinct sub-register shaped by its affordances. The study concludes that this hybrid register constitutes a systematic, creative sociolinguistic system rather than unstructured mixing.