Digital communication environments have emerged as significant arenas for the observation of contemporary lexical innovation. Social media platforms facilitate rapid interaction among vast numbers of users, thereby accelerating processes of language change (Androutsopoulos 2020). Within these environments, speakers often employ linguistic strategies that condense complex meanings into shorter, easily recognizable forms. Such tendencies are particularly evident in word formation processes, including compounding, clipping, abbreviation, and derivation. These processes provide linguists with a structured framework for analyzing how new lexical items emerge and become conventionalized within specific discourse communities.
TikTok exemplifies a particularly dynamic environment for these developments. The platform enables the swift dissemination of lexical innovations across extensive user communities, allowing new expressions to circulate rapidly and become conventionalized within specific online subcultures (Androutsopoulos 2020; Eti/Rosalinah 2024). One such subculture is GymTok, a loosely connected community focused on fitness training, bodybuilding culture, and gym-related lifestyles. Despite its increasing interest in digital language use, relatively little research has examined the morphological structure of lexical innovation within specialized online communities like GymTok.
This study aims to investigate lexical innovation within this digital niche by analyzing word-formation processes in English-language GymTok discourse. Utilizing a dataset of 100 lexical items extracted from TikTok comments, the paper explores which word-formation processes predominate in this environment and how these formations reflect broader tendencies toward morphological productivity in digital communication.
- Quote paper
- Nediem Arem (Author), 2026, Which word-formation processes dominate English-language #GymTok discourse?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1759574
