101 Vol. 23 No. 1, April 2023, pp. 101 – 114 DOI: 10.24071/joll.v23i1.4398 Available at https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Stylistic Features of Netspeak Language on 9GAG’s Instagram Account I Gede Sumerta Yasa, Putu Nur Ayomi, Putu Devi Maharani putu.nur.a@unmas.ac.id Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar, INDONESIA Abstract Article information The emergence of Netspeak as a variety of languages cannot be separated from the development of the Internet and social media. The characteristic of its medium and the social media nature of communication makes Netspeak have distinctive and unique features that differentiate it from the more traditional form of communication, such as topographic and grammatical irregularities, as well as lexical creativity. This study attempts to discover the use of written communication features on 9GAG’s Instagram account as a popular community-based content creator. The qualitative method is applied by using Crystal’s feature of language variety model. The data was gathered through observation and documentation and then analyzed in terms of graphology, typography, grammar, vocabulary, and discourse features. This research found some distinctive graphic features such as punctuations and spellings, morphological processes and syntactical irregularities, distinctive vocabularies, and some discourse feature that presents unique coherence and chronological order. The finding indicates the rich features present in the data source, with the characteristics of informality and irregularities that often bend the rules of standard language imposed by internet users. Moreover, the finding also shows that the written language development on Netspeak is a way to overcome the barriers to expression in Instagram communication. Keywords: Netspeak; language-variety; social-media; Instagram Received: 17 February 2022 Revised: 17 May 2022 Accepted: 15 November 2022 Introduction The rapid expansion of technology accelerates the development of language. A new variety of languages is created because the Internet provides a different medium of communication. As a term introduced by Crystal, Netspeak is known as a language of the Internet (Crystal, 2001). In the modern era, the internet has become a powerful global medium, and so is Netspeak. There are some reasons why Netspeak has become so enormous for people to take advantage of its existence. First, the medium boasts massive users. Every year more people flock to this digital world. In 2014, 89.42% of young adults in the US used at least one social media platform; the numbers increased to 97.5% in two years (Villanti, L, Ilakkuvan, Jacobs, Graham, & Rath, 2017). Today, approximately https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 102 there are 4.5 billion internet users worldwide. Second, it is highly productive and flexible. The Netspeak is expanding, and new expressions are created every day. From a lexical perspective, the media influences the vocabulary of a language, which causes semantic differentiation from other linguistic expressions, resulting in new words that are distinctive from its traditional meanings, such as neologism (Pei, 2014). The productive side of the Netspeak is also affected by the morphological process; the media is rich with affixation, clipping, blending, etc. (Ratih & Gusdian, 2018); for example, the medium has prefixes such as cyber-, like ’cyber-art’ (Dong, 2014), and ’cyber-culture’ (Jurida, Dzanic, Pavlovic, Jahic, & Hanic, 2016). During the pandemic, the Internet played primary roles as a source of information and medium of communication, and many new terms were created, such as ’zooming’, ‘coronials’, and ’coronacation’, which were found on social media (Nabila et al., 2021; Al- Salman et al., 2021). Moreover, people appear not to follow the standard of language rules, and sometimes, the grammatical system is bent on acquiring unique expressions. Third, the medium fascinates all gender and age, from young Millennials to Generation X. Those who commonly prefer formal writing is now starting to embrace the social media and even stated that this linguistic situation as ‘a feature of the progressive world’ (Tahir & Hassan, 2021). Fourth, the features in Netspeak, mainly social media that exist nowadays, offer many benefits for individuals and businesses. For commercial purposes, social media helps corporate and entrepreneurs to promote their business, build connections to customers, monitor the market, and raise brand awareness (Akram, 2018). For community- based creators, creating and using social media can attract followers and gain popularity. Netspeak has distinctive features that other media lack; a survey even encourages teachers to use this feature as a supplement for English language acquisition (Jeyaraj, 2014). For example, a meme, an attractive graphic image with embedded text, carries various messages and is a source of discourse with funny characteristics (Handayani, Sari, & Respati, 2016). The medium is also rich in stylistic variation presented by its features. For example, BBC Learning English on Instagram created a unique style of spelling by adapting to the topic being discussed, like “eggcelent” when covering content about the egg idiom (Ratnadi, Yasa, & Hardiyanti, 2021). Nevertheless, it cannot be avoided that written communication content or ideas on Netspeak might be interpreted differently by people. This is described with the term ‘visually decontextualized’, meaning lack of visual contact; thus, participants of communication on Netspeak cannot rely on context, and sometimes meaning is unclear (Crystal, 2001). Nevertheless, internet users can mitigate this communication barrier by using several features offered by the social media platform. For example, an informant from a study conducted by Choiriyati et al. (2020) prefers to choose diction, punctuation, and capital letters when communicating on WhatsApp and Instagram to diminish multi-interpretation. Besides the studies mentioned above, researchers have conducted some studies that focuses on certain features of Netspeak. Mahasneh et al. (2021) revealed that internet memes could convey social and political expression with a trait of entertainment that makes people react. The study of emoji by Cohn et al. (2019) explored the interrelation of the use of emoji and grammar by investigating the users’ perceptions. The third research is a study by Monderin et al. (2021) which concerned with the lexical feature of Netspeak in Filipinos social media. Nasir et al (2018) studies the use of morphological phenomenon on Netspeak and the use of punctuation marks. Meanwhile, Wang et al. (2017) studies the stylistic form of Netspeak in chatroom situation. The Netspeak features presented by head of states in Twitter communication have also been explored by Ayomi (2021) using the theory of systemic functional linguistic. Except for Wang et al. (2017) and Ayomi (2021), the studies mentioned above discussed only several aspects of Netspeak. Wang has discussed most of the Netspeak features. However, these features are discussed separately from their context of use. On the other hand, Ayomi (2021) focuses more on how the linguistic choices present meaning, especially politically. Less attention is given to the stylistic varieties. In the previous studies, the discourse stylistic feature is not covered Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 103 enough yet, and this study brought the stylistic way of creating coherence or violation while achieving intended purposes. Thus, this study tries to fill the gap in the current research on Netspeak by offering a more comprehensive analysis covering the whole aspect of Netspeak features in their context of use by focusing on one Instagram account. By focusing on one account with a specific profile, the interplay between pictures, symbols, and the written language and how those features contribute to the humour and entertaining aspect of 9GAG’s Instagram posts, where the element of creativity and wit is highlighted can be examined deeper. Stylistic approach studies the typical linguistic expression that characterizes certain types of text including the description of their function and effect (Verdonk, 2002). As this study specifically deals with multimodal digital text in which the visual signs come into play, the analysis employed the Crystal’s five features of written communication (2001) to describe the textual form, followed by the contextual analysis to interpret the purpose and meaning of the Netspeak features. There are five types of features for written communication. The first feature is the graphic feature, which encompasses the general presentation of written language, such as the use of animation or images. Crystal gives an example of how an English newspaper can be identified by its headlines, columns, and captions. The second feature is orthographic, which covers personal writing systems in punctuation, emphasis, capitalization, or spelling. The example is a spelling modification of “Beanz Meanz Heinz” in advertising. The grammatical feature is the third feature of written language, which includes the morphological and syntactical structure of the language. For example, religious passages in English use unusual vocative construction like “O God, who knows…”. The next feature is a lexical feature, which focuses on the vocabulary of a language in terms of a set of words and idioms. For instance, legal English writing has expressions such as ‘alleged’, ‘easement’ and ‘heretofore’. The last feature is the discourse feature, which features the organization of a text in terms of coherence, relevance, or progression of ideas. For example, an English scientific journal consists of sections such as abstract, introduction, methodology, result, and conclusion. The aim of the present study is to discuss every stylistic feature and analyse its textual form and contextual function based on Crystal’s model (2001) to acquire a stylistic variation of Netspeak found on Instagram. Methodology As the data source, the writer chose 9GAG’s Instagram account (Instagram.com/9gag). It was selected for the account is an up-to-date community-based Instagram page where a variety of English used shows the informality characteristic of language. The selection was supported by the cosmopolitan nature of its followers, with English as the primary language used in communication which therefore can produce more creative form of language. This study used two methods for collecting the data which are observation and documentation. The first method was used to gather data by observing content published by 9GAG’s Instagram account from the three parts: graphics, captions, and comments. The data was taken from the September to October 2021 posts. The study explored possible written Netspeak features used by Instagram users and did not search for each feature’s quantity or the number of occurrences. Thus, the writer applied purposive sampling when choosing the data. Data were collected from content that highly represents the use of a feature. The documentation process was conducted by screen-shooting the part of the Instagram page where the feature occurred and listing some information or detail possessed by the content to provide intertextuality to the data if necessary. The data were analyzed using a qualitative method to identify the written Netspeak feature on 9GAG’s Instagram account. The theoretical framework for the analysis of this study was based on Crystal’s stylistic feature of written language (Crystal, 2001). The study used an inductive approach to analyze the features by studying the aspect of graphology, typography, grammar, vocabulary, and discourse. A complete data was obtained through synthesizing step where the writer combined all information: language- Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 104 wise and external details taken from various sources to support the data. Results and Discussion The study finds some stylistic features distinctive to the Netspeak situation in the 9Gag Instagram account. Graphic features are discovered in two primary forms: memes and emojis and used to create stories or lexical representations. For the orthographic features, the forms indicate textual stylistic variety that affects the intertextuality of the written text, used by Instagram users to create puns or funny comments. The grammatical features present ways to make new expressions through the various morphological processes. The deviations in syntactical forms of the data are employed to achieve the intertextual meaning of the expression. Words or phrases found that are classified into lexical features possess distinctive meanings suitable to Netspeak situations and apart from everyday uses. Finally, the discourse features highlighted forms or styles to create orders and coherences of text to gain banter or achieve intertextual links related to the contents. This section is divided into five sub- sections to cover each written-language feature category found on the data source. Forms and Functions of The Graphic Features in Netspeak Two distinctive graphic features are massively used on the data. The first feature is graphic images, which serves three functions: context-oriented task, baiting or promoting, and emotive purpose. The second is emoji. It has three primary uses: act as lexicons, bridging emotions, and stylistic purpose. The finding regarding this feature is in line with the study of Masahneh et al. (2021), which found the use of memes as a mode of expression. The Use of Meme to Create Different Interpretation from Context Interplay The first use of graphic features in the meme is to create different interpretation from the context interplay. Datum 1 Figure 1 Figure 1 presented on datum 1 was used to offer a plot twist to a post, which was obtained through manipulating the targeted meaning of the writing. A different interpretation was produced as the image influenced the context of the whole post. The quote “MAC NOW SUPPORTS WINDOW” has the mainstream relation to the capability of a device (Mac) to operate an operation system (OS). By providing the image, the context of the writing shifted into the capability of a computer (Mac) physically holding a window (part of a house). The graphic on datum 1 can carry the task of delivering meaning and clarifying context. This meaning shift creates a playful and entertaining nuance to the picture. The Use of Meme to Promote a Webpage through Baiting Datum 2 Figure 2 & 3 One of the interesting forms of communication that can only exist in social media is meme. Figure 2 of datum 2 possesses the ability of the image to bait people to flock into the comment section of the post. Figure 2 presents a meme with a command to dictate the viewers of the content: to order people to comment randomly (spamming). The author of 9GAG uses foreshadowing technique of how the comment will be filled with spams. This method attracts people to contribute to the spam filling of the comment section. The baiting process successfully influenced the Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 105 followers to spam comments on the comment section shown in figure 3. The phenomenon promoted the content by elevating its insight on adding the number of comments of the post. Use of Meme and Emoji to Express Impression or Emotions Datum 3 Figure 4 The writers found that meme can be used to express the feelings of the addressers. Datum 3 presented a ‘SpongeBob’ meme with two graphic elements: the smiling Sponge Bob represented a fake smile, and transparent three Sponge Bobs expressed frustration. The whole feeling from datum 3 is internal frustration towards ignorance. Datum 4 Figure 5 The emoji of datum 4 was a reaction to the meme in datum 3. The crying emoji on datum 4 represented a sad feeling, an impression of how sadly accurate the circumstance presented in datum 3. By reflecting on both datum 3 and 4, Netspeak medium found on the data source possesses several graphic features used to express feelings. This finding is supported by the study of memes on social media conducted by Mahasneh and Bashayreh(2021), which states that internet memes can convey expression messages of the creators. Use of Emoji as Lexicons There are two uses of emoji found by the writers which occur in the sentences. The first use is to substitute a word with a graphic emoji, and the second is to embed graphic subsidiary art for a stylistic purpose. Datum 5 Figure 6 The graphic in datum 5 presented a use of ‘world emoji’ to represent the lexicon noun ‘world’. The user used it as the graphic carries semantic meaning from the sign represented by the emoji, which takes the world-like depiction. The use of emoji on datum 5 as a substitution for word is also in line with the finding of a study conducted by Cohn et al. (2019) that states emoji can be used to substitute for words in sentences, especially for nouns or adjectives which have a lesser- ambiguous semantic connection with the graphic. It also produced a writing style on a syntactical level that combined non-verbal communication as a word to prepositional phrase ‘around the world’. Another use of emoji is the brown-red leaves that act as a subsidiary unit in the sentence. The presence of the emoji does not influence the sentence’s syntax. It was used to add a stylistic extension of the message as the brown-red leaves emoji has a conceptual meaning related to autumn, thus creating tone and imagery to the sentence. Forms and Functions of Orthographic Feature in Netspeak The writers found several distinctive orthographic features used by users to suit their personal writing preference when delivering ideas on the data source. The finding of this feature encompassed the use of punctuations & symbols, alphabet & number characters, and use of uppercase. Some features show the flexibility and informality nature of written language on Netspeak, apart from standard writing, showing a unique Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 106 variety of English on the Internet. The study is also in line with the study of Nasir et al. (2018) that found informal use of punctuation which does not follow standard use of language. Distinctive Uses of Asterisk Instagram users were found to use asterisks on 9GAG’s Instagram account to achieve several linguistic tasks. The writers found three functions for this feature. Datum 6: “Are you TRYING to make me look like sh*t? Seriously?” Datum 7: “Why you no be like Jonny? *wooden spoon crack to head*” Datum 8: [first comment] “Has to ve” [correction comment] “be*” First, an asterisk is used to diminish or soften expletives on social media. This symbol on datum 6 replaced the letter in spelling level and acted as censorship applied to written communication. The nature or common rule of using this asterisk on datum 6 is replacing the middle letter of the word; thus, at least the initial letter has to remain in the word to make readers know which word is referred to. The application of an asterisk on the expression of datum 6 reduced the direct characteristic of the swear word ‘shit’. An Instagram user applied the use of an asterisk in datum 7 to indicate an ongoing action or event. It was used by placing an asterisk at the beginning and the end of the sentence. The use of asterisks in datum 7 separated and distinguished the expression from another writing style like dialogue or statement. The resulting written text in datum 8 got synchronous or parallel action when an utterance was delivered. Thus, the final expression of datum 7 expresses a comparison to somebody while hitting his/her head with a wooden spoon. The third use of asterisk found on the data source indicates the correction to written communication. A characteristic of written communication on Instagram, particularly in the comment section, is not immediately revisable, especially when users have sent the comments and errors occurred. The characteristic implied that the netizens have to re-write their ideas to correct the mistyping. Nevertheless, the existence of an asterisk as an orthographic feature, represented by datum 8, creates a shortcut to do the correction with minimum effort. In datum 8, an Instagram user made an error in his/her comment and revised the error consecutively on the following comment. The user only applied the asterisk to which word was targeted for the revision. This same feature of datum 8 also occurred in the study of Tahir et al. (2021), which found the use of asterisk stars to indicate a user’s correction to a word or text. Use of Symbol as a Lexicon Datum 9: “@ that friend” A symbol on Netspeak was found used by the author of 9GAG to substitute a lexical unit on a sentence. The symbol used in datum 9 was the at-sign-symbol (@). On social media platforms like Instagram, this symbol signals username and address to other users. In the circumstance of datum 9, it was used to replace the word ’tag’ in the sentence, a related lexicon to addressing activity on the data source. Thus, the sentence carried imperative meaning to make users tag their friends. This symbol is also commonly used to replace the word at, found in expression like “I’m @school” (Tahir& Hassan, 2021). Use of Symbol as Emphasis Datum 10: “Every. Single. Time.” The writers found the use of full-stop that was placed after each word in a sentence to create emphasis or dramatic effect. The punctuation in datum 10 added a brief pause when reading every word. The chunked nature of the writing provides emphasis to each correspondent word. It was used to express the impression of the addresser to a dilemma or indecisiveness when deciding to buy something. The degree of the expression is elevated as the writing got a distinctive sound pattern of falling intonation after each word when influenced by the punctuation in datum 10. Thus, it created a dramatic effect ‘related’ to the sentence on datum 10. Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 107 Use of Symbol to Deliver Speech Act The punctuation of the question mark presented in datum 11 was found carrying a speech act addressed to the Instagram users. Datum 11: “?” [a comment found in the post featuring figure 7] Figure 7 The post where datum 11 occurs presenting a meme that needs context or general knowledge to understand. A roman soldier indicates that the number engraved on the wall must be interpreted in Roman numeral, which is 69 (sixty-nine). To the Netspeak community, when the 69 expression occurred on the Internet, which is a porn thing, they commonly reacted with ’nice’. People who do not know this culture often ask for context to understand. The question mark in datum 11 represents confusion with an embedded speech act that requests the viewers to give the addresser information regarding the post in datum 11. Use of Specific Letter to Soften Expletive Datum 12: “*Gets 2 stars* Ah shxt! Here we go again” The writers found a stylistic form of blurring expletives used by Instagram users by replacing certain character(s) within the expletives. Datum 12 presented customization applied to a word to reduce the aggressive nature of expletive in written language. The word shit was softened by replacing the letter ’I’ with ’x’. Similar to using an asterisk in datum 7, this feature acts as censorship for a curse word. Use of Repetitive Letter to Emphasize Emotion Datum 13: “They are soooo cute” The feature of repetitive letters represented by datum 13 was used by Instagram users on the data source to achieve stronger emotion in expression. It created a prolonged word by applying consecutive typing, either vocal or consonant letter, to the targeted word, in this case, the repeated letter o in the datum 13.The modified word is ‘so’, which is a modifier to create a greater degree for the adjective ’cute’. Repeated letters in the datum 13 enable a further higher degree of greatness, thus modifying the cuteness level. Orthographic Emoticon Orthographic smileys were found used by Instagram users to express emotions, achieved by combining alphabets, punctuations or numbers. Datum 14: “Family goals <3” The emoticon feature in datum 14 was found to be used by Instagram users to express the emotional state of the addresser. It is distinctive and is commonly created by combining alphabet letters, numbers, punctuations, and symbols. Emoticon in datum 14 presented a creation of ‘heart emoticon’ by using less-than sign (<) and numeral three (3). The love emoticon in datum 14 was used to express lovable or likable feelings to a post covering Halloween family life. The addresser of expression in datum 14 loves how the family spends Halloween. Use of Uppercase to Emphasize Words and to Express Emotion Capitalizations were used by netizens to emphasis the meaning of a word or to create a stronger emotion. Datum 15: “Well, it’s FAST food, so” Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 108 Datum 15 was found to present emphasis by applying uppercase to the word ’fast’. The orthographic feature in datum 15 occurred in a comment when the addresser reacted to a post that had a topic about a prank. The prankster on the post where datum 15 was found pretended to get a whole raw potato when buying French fries in a fast-food restaurant. The addresser of datum 16 stressed the ‘fast’ word to emphasize how fast the restaurant’s food service was. The emphasis was targeted to obtain funny expressions when fast was referred to as a real-quick or no process at all. Datum 16: “MY NORENGLISH (Norwegian + englis) IS ON POINT” The writers found a way to emit a stronger emotion used by an Instagram user on the data source by applying uppercase to the expression. Application of uppercase on datum 16 created a prosodic element of rising intonation, usually found in yelling or burst of excitement. The addresser of expression in datum 16 found the post that covered a mockery of the English language, which the user commented before, felt related to the linguistic phenomenon of the addresser; thus, the addresser felt the post was hilarious. Use of Alternating Capitalization for Sarcastic Tone Alternating capitalization is a form of capitalization used by cyber-citizens to create sarcasm or mockery. (Datum 17): “She really said “It’s NoTeVeNCoOkEd At AlL”. Tf woman?” A use of alternating capitalization presented in datum 17 was applied to create a sarcastic tone to the expression. The application added a consecutive change of rising and falling tones, commonly known as mockery. Datum 17 is a comment found by the writers in a post where a prankster pretends to get a raw potato when buying French fries. When the prankster presents the raw potato to a staff at a fast-food restaurant, the employee then yells to her friend, saying that the raw potato is not cooked. The addresser of datum 17 then commented the post, implied by alternating capitalization that it should be obvious the potato is not cooked because it is a raw one. Structural Spelling Modification The writers found distinctive variants of spelling modification that occurred in the structural level of the word. Those three variants are reduced spelling, embedded spelling, and customized spelling. Datum 18: “Lol tru” Datum 19: “he’s training to be jacked just so he can pick his doggo up” Datum 20: “so kyot” Datum 18 represents a phenomenon of reduced spelling, where the spelling of the word was modified by omitting the letter e of the final position in the word ’true’. A distinctive variant of embedded spelling occurred when an Instagram user embedded additional letter(s) to a word. The variant is presented in datum 19. The addresser of datum 19 added suffix -o in the word ’dog’. Netizens were also found reconstructing the spelling of a word by replacing certain letters. The last variant is customized spelling, which phenomenon is presented by datum 20. The word ’kyot’ in datum 20 was created from a total transformation of the word cute. The more known version of ’kyot’ is ’kyoot’, which the latter version share similar pronunciations with the word ‘cute’. These unique variants of spelling presented in the three data were obtained to elevate state of the art within verbal communication, which reflected stylistic features of Netspeak found on the data source. The writers used the term ‘conceptual’ for a variant of distinctive spelling, which adjusts or modifies the spelling according to conceptual elements of writing such as topic or theme. Two unique spellings were found applying this feature. Datum 21: “It’s furry pretty Datum 22: “cause u vamp my furendo” Datum 21 was found as spelling that adjusting to a topic. The topic discussed where Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 109 the comment of datum 21 occurred is about a pet. The addresser of the comment transformed the word ’very’ into ’furry’, adjusting the spelling of the word to one trait of pet: fur or furry. On the other hand, datum 22 is an adaptation to Japanlish (Japanese English), where the consonant cluster is not common in the Japanese language; thus, Japanese people usually add vocal sound after coda in a syllable or between consonant. Both data represent the richness of stylistic writing communication found on Netspeak, evoking language art. The feature of alpha-numerical spelling was found used by an Instagram user to create a more straightforward and shorter- expression to written communication. (Datum 23): “Me b4 I started playing val...” Number in datum 23 was used to replace syllables in a word. Numeral 4 (four) is a homonymy of ’fore’. Thus, the number was used to substitute the second syllable ‘fore’ in the word ’before’. Combining letters and numbers in spelling is a distinctive feature to Netspeak, which creates a briefer yet stylish and cool expression to writing. Forms and Functions of Grammatical Features in Netspeak The grammatical features which are present on 9GAG’s Instagram account represent productivity and flexibility of written language that present the simplicity trend of English Netspeak. The grammatical feature found on the data source was primarily used to acquire simpler expressions. Furthermore, this type of feature is used to create a new idea or word on Netspeak. Abbreviation & Acronym The first morphological process found by on the data source was abbreviation and acronym. Datum 24: “no lol don’t say sorry omg…” Datum 25: “Just Imagine Mark stops to pay FB and IG users…” Datum 24 presents the two word- formations; ’lol’ is an acronym, whereas ’omg’ is an abbreviation. The word ’lol’ is abbreviated from initial letters of each word in ’laugh out loud’, and then got a variation of pronunciation where the abbreviated is pronounced as common word /lɒl/ instead of spelling every letter like the usual way to pronounced abbreviation; ‘omg’ in datum 24 is pronounced as spelling it. Datum 25 shows a variant way to abbreviate words where ’Facebook’ and ‘Instagram’ are compound words. The addressers abbreviated both words in datum 25 by taking the initial word in each morpheme: ’F’ from ’Face’ and ’B’ from ’book’. Clipping & Shortening Instagram users were found using clipping and shortening when delivering ideas on the data source. There were two types of clipping and shortening found there based on the type of morphological process: prosodic and non-prosodic morphology. Datum 26: “for urwknd activity” Datum 27: “aw that dog huge tho” Datum 26 presents a non-prosodic morphological process where the addresser of datum 26 shortened the word ‘weekend’ to ’wknd’. The shortened version of the word in datum 26 was acquired from taking vocal letters from the spelling structure of the word. The word in datum 27 was obtained through prosodic morphology. The process required an omission of a syllable in the word ’though’ (second syllable). The final word is a word that only has its first original syllable. Conversion The writers found a productive characteristic of Netspeak on the data source where words’ classes were converted to create new expressions that did not exist previously. Conversion was found in several comments, which is presented in datum 28 below. Datum 28: “me googling everything after watching...” Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 110 In datum 28, the converted word is ‘Google’, which is a noun known as a search engine on the Internet. The morphological process applied in datum 28 changed the word class from noun to verb. The result was a word with new meaning ’to search for information on the Internet via Google’. Coinage Like the previous morphological process, the writers found coinage where new words were created to obtain a more precise meaning, yet the expressions were newly formed; the words do not exist in every word class. Datum 29: “a lobsterwoman yeeting one that wasn’t big enough” The word ’yeeting’ in datum 29 is the present continuous form of ’yeet’, which is a verb as a new word from the coinage process. The meaning of this word is ’to throw thing with full power’. Compounding & Affixation New words were created on the data source by combining a free morpheme with either another free morpheme (compounding) or bound morpheme (affixation). Datum 30: “It’s crazy how lost this insta page is from 9gag itself” Datum 31: “Multiverse of memeness” Datum 30 was found by the writers contained a word formed by the compounding process: ’insta page’. It was created by combining the word ‘insta’ (shortened from Instagram, a noun) with another free morpheme ’page’ (also a noun). The process in datum 30 resulted in a new noun that has meaning ’a webpage on Instagram’. On the other hand, datum 31 has a word that created through affixation. The word ’memeness’ in datum 31 was created by adding suffix (bound morpheme) ’–ness’ to word ’meme’. The suffix in morphology is used to create a word to describe a state, condition, or quality. The process affixation in datum 31 was a derivational one with change of meaning occurred in the process. It created a new noun ’memeness’ which means ’a state of being meme’. Verb-less Sentence A syntactical irregularity found by the writers on 9GAG’s Instagram account was the verb-less sentence. It is a condition where there is no verb present in a sentence. English language standard, verb as the predicate is a prominent aspect in language, and regular English sentences must consist of at least a verb. Datum 32: “You okay bro?” On circumstances found on the data source, some sentences were found without having a verb; the verb was omitted. The standard type of verb omitted on the data source was the auxiliary verb. This phenomenon is presented in datum 32, where ‘are’ is an auxiliary verb used to attach with the pronoun ‘you’ was omitted in datum 32. This syntactical feature of Netspeak was used to create a shorter expression. The finding is also in line with the study conducted by Wang et al. (2017) that found incompletes sentences with no verb, especially auxiliary verbs. Omission of Apostrophe The writers found cases where apostrophes in expressions on the data source were omitted. There were two types of apostrophe omission found: possessive and contraction apostrophe omissions. Datum 33: “That lady laugh is the best ive seen...” The omission found in datum 33 is the contraction omission. When the word ’have’ is contracted to the personal pronoun ‘I’, the apostrophe was used to indicate that part of the word is omitted. This finding in datum 33 implied that Instagram users tried to simplify the writing by omitting elements that do not significantly affect an expression’s meaning. Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 111 Irregular Grammar Particle Creativity in grammar can also be seen in a unique and irregular application of grammar particles as can be seen below: Datum 34: “Looks like a Karen, but Karen’t In datum 34, the writers found an uncommon use of particle ’not’. It is an English particle used to indicate the negation of something. In Standard English, the particle is joined to the verb class word. Meanwhile, in datum 34, the particle is combined with ’Karen’, which is a noun to create a new expression. Use of negative particle to non-verb word is not usual; thus, the addresser of datum 34 imposed a loose grammatical rule on his/her writing. Nevertheless, this informal feature of language revealed a productive characteristic of language, freely creating a new expression without addressing grammar. The new expression in datum 34 means ’a lady who does not like a Karen’ (Karen is slang that stands for an obnoxious and aggressive middle-aged lady). Another factor considered by the writers is that both ’Karen’t’ and ‘Aren’t’ sound similar, thus triggering the application of this feature. Forms and Functions of Lexical Features in Netspeak A distinctive vocabulary was found by the writers when exploring the data source. Based on the data gathered by the writers, the lexical feature found on the data source shows a semantic difference of words where the meaning of lexicons on Netspeak are different from their standard meaning on formal writing. The different meaning is achieved to express a better expression to fit the Netspeak situation. This finding is supported by Monderin et al. (2021) and Wang et al. (2017), who found meaning deviation of words on Netspeak. Table 1. Netspeak Lexicon on 9GAG’s IG Account Class Word Noun spam police, bot, page, reel, tweet, follower, stalker, username Verb promote, scroll, block, buffer(ing), feature, tag, google(ing) Adjective Viral The writers found several distinctive words to Netspeak vocabulary on 9GAG’s Instagram account. Some of them are semantically different from their counterparts in other linguistic situations; the words have a different meaning when related to the Netspeak. For instance, in the Netspeak situation, the word ’tweet’ is related to the Twitter platform, which means ‘a post made on Twitter’, whereas the common meaning related to this word is sound of a bird. Other example is ‘spam police’, where in daily use, the word is used to refer to a law enforcement unit. The internet users adopted the word as a metaphor to describe ’a person who reports people who commit spam’. The semantic comparison of words found on the data source indicated that Netspeak has its own vocabulary, which is acquired to express the need for language and ideas within. Table 2. Other Netspeak Vocabulary on 9GAG’s IG Account Class Word Slang No cap, Karen, Catfish, F Onomatopoeia Zzzzzz (rotating sound), bzzzzzz (sound of a mosquito), pspspspspsps (sound of calling a cat) There are two types of vocabulary found on the data source: slang and onomatopoeias. Instagram users commonly use these words presented in table 2 as the community on Netspeak of the data source. The words are flourished as the characteristic of this medium is informal. For its informal use, the word also semantically differs from its standard Journal of Language and Literature ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) I Gede Sumerta Yasa et.al. 112 meaning. For example, cap literary means ‘a headwear, whereas on Netspeak, cap means ‘to brag or lie’. Thus, the expression of ‘no cap’ in table 2 has meaning ’no lie’. Another unique type of slang was present in the data source. The one-letter slang ‘F’ means ‘to pay respect’, adopted from a video game of Call of Duty, which used as a command to pay respect (Press F to Pay Respect); thus, the phenomenon indicates an influence of entertainment to slang of Netspeak. Forms and Functions of Discourse Feature in Netspeak The study discovered unique discourse features that focused on the progression of ideas and coherence. The writers found formal and contextual links used to create coherent writing while maintaining funny characteristics of the content of the data source. Meanwhile, flouting and violating maxims were also used to create funny expressions that attract other users to join the conversation. Violating or Flouting Maxims Instagram users committed violations or flouting maxims of conversation on the data source. This linguistic phenomenon occurred for the users tried to create an attractive expression that attracted other Instagram users to comment on the addresser’s expression. Datum 35: User A: “Who is Eminem?” User B: “I believe he was the season 5 winner of Masterchef” For example, as found in datum 35, user B flouted maxim of quality by telling a lie to make a funny comment regarding who Eminem is. The correct information should be ‘a rapper’, but user B instead delivered the wrong information on purpose. Use of Zero Anaphoric Expression Instagram users sometimes refer to the previous expression by using zero anaphora or ellipsis. Datum 36: User C: “Who the f has 261 unread messages...” User D: “being in group chat be like: ” In datum 36, user D used no entity to link back to the expression of user C. The no-entity part is the part after the colon of the expression. The use was intended as a shortcut for creating an expression that referred to user C’s expression without typing. The addresser used the full expression of datum 36 to concept a phenomenon of joining a group chat and many unread messages received when checking it. When the referring expression was applied, the whole meaning of expression addressed by user D would be “being in group chat be like: 261 unread messages... ”. Use of Contextual Link The writers found the feature in content that took concepts like a dictionary on the data source. In this post, the writers found the use of external information that created a coherent expression. Datum 38: Morning (n) Ah shit, here we go again. If analyzed literally, the word morning’s meaning is not like in datum 38; the correct meaning should be ‘an early phase of a day, usually after sunrise’. However, the author of 9GAG adopted an expression from a game to be presented for the meaning of morning in datum 38. The expression of “Ah shit, here we go again.” It originated from a PlayStation game entitled ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’. This expression was taken from the protagonist when entering hostile territory. The quote expresses the distress of the protagonist. 9GAG brought the same concept to the content in datum 38. The meaning brought in datum 38 was an expression of distress when starting a day in the morning. This feature somewhat makes a discourse coherent in a unique way. Furthermore, the viewers must know the link to understand the intended meaning. Conclusion The language found in the data source was rich in written features, and after analyzing the features, the writers concluded the study in Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 23 No. 1 – April 2023 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878(online) 113 four primary points. First, the result supported Netspeak as a variety of English, which can be compared from other linguistic varieties, indicated from the distinctive feature which show the difference in terms of semantics, has a unique structure and rich concept in writing. Second, the Netspeak found in the data source has variation in stylistic expression, for a goal can be achieved by using many different features found there. Third, the features found on the data source are sometimes influenced by external factors. The 9GAG’s account by the internet community is known for its relation to movies, games, and other entertainment. 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