Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language

Etymology meets the algorithm in this sharp debut from linguist Aleksic. Drawing on archival research and his own posts on TikTok and Reddit, Aleksic explains how social media triggers innovations in language and creates “algospeak,” in which algorithms, which filter and prioritize certain information, “shape who gets exposed to certain words, how those words spread, and how popular” they become. Once a new word or phrase is introduced on an online platform, Aleksic notes, it often becomes part of a site’s metadata through repeated use. Such new terms frequently emerge in specific online communities on short-form video platforms then slowly filter into other groups, eventually spreading to other social media sites and real life. The use of “evasive language” for sensitive content is one of Aleksic’s case studies—TikTok users, for example, began using unalive (for “dead”) and seggs (instead of “sex”) for “algorithmic optimization.” Aleksic steers clear of vilifying algospeak, demonstrating instead that social media amplifies linguistic development and convincingly arguing that evolving language is part of the history of human creativity: “Our language, culture, and identity are inevitably molded by our environment, but we work through these molds to keep doing silly, ingenious things with language, because we’re resilient,” he writes. It makes for an energetic and eye-opening study. (July)