WORD FORMATION PROCESSES FOR NON-STANDARD WORDS IN TWEETS BY MALAYSIAN TWITTER USERS

NUR NASHATUL NASUHA, NAZMAN (2022) WORD FORMATION PROCESSES FOR NON-STANDARD WORDS IN TWEETS BY MALAYSIAN TWITTER USERS. Masters thesis, UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK.

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Abstract

The study investigated word formation processes for non-standard words in Twitter among Malaysian users. The specific objectives of the study were to: 1) identify non-standard words used by Malaysian Twitter users, 2) analyse the lexical morphological processes underlying the formation of non-standard words frequently used by Malaysian Twitter users, and 3) examine the Malaysian Twitter users’ reasons for using non-standard words. The descriptive study involved the qualitative content analysis of tweets and thematic analysis of participants’ reasons for using non-standard words in their tweets. For the content analysis, 2,000 tweets of about 25,000 words were compiled from 200 Malaysian Twitter users who posted at least one tweet in a month. Thirty Malaysian Twitter users were interviewed on their reasons for using non-standard words in tweets. For the data analysis, the AntConc software was used to rank the frequency of usage. The results showed that 76% of the top 100 non-standard words they kept the original meaning of the standard words as shown in Kamus Dewan (4th edition). The findings from the study showed most of the non-standard words are from the verb class, showing the importance of actions in tweets. The most common word formation process is deduction (36%) followed by vowel deletion (27%), vowel replacement (11%), consonant deletion (9%), reduced phrases (7%), consonant replacement (5%) and consonant addition (5%). The results show that the most common morphological process is clipping (76%) followed by pseudo-elliptical construction (17%) but not many words were formed through blending (6%). The participants’ reasons for using non-standard words revolved around three dimensions: characteristics of the word, preference to freely use spelling of words that is different from the standard formal use, and Twitter restriction on word and character length. The findings revealed that non-standard words reflected how the words are spoken in daily life.

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