Assist. Prof. Dr. Milen Filipov
KIMEP University – Almaty (Kazakhstan)
Assist. Prof. Dr. Dinka Zlateva
South-West University Neofit Rilski – Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria)
https : //doi.org/10.53656/bel2021-5-6.online.lit.news
Abstract. The purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of Bulgarian university students, representatives of generations Y and Z, with breaking the rules of the Standard of Bulgarian language when communicating with textual posts on the Facebook social network site (SNS) and social networking applications (apps). Breaking language norms is due to the perception of the SNS and social apps communication as speaking rather than writing. Therefore, many of the language rules applicable to the writing are broken. The research employed a phenomenological inductive research strategy. It used a narrative literature review from 2011 to 2021 and an in-depth interview of 15 university students as research instruments. The theoretical framework was built on the theory of communication accommodation and audience design. Two main themes crystallized in the in-depth interviews: 1) communication in SNS and social apps – visual, verbal, and informal and 2) context and communicator determine the level of the Bulgarian language rules observance. In these themes, perceiving SNS communication as speaking, not as writing, hurrying up to join the communication, and the perception of the online environment as informal, explained the breaking the language rules. The research is the first to study the issue in the context of the experiences of the language users, and it opens the scientific field to further research.
Keywords: Standard of the Bulgarian Language; breaking of linguistic norms; social network sites communication; communication accommodation theory; audience design model