Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity in Computer- Mediated Communication of Urdu/English Bilinguals

Abstract

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This study examines how linguistic practices of Urdu/English bilinguals influence linguistic typology particularly in terms of linguistic simplicity and complexity. The data was sampled from the Bachelor of Science students (who had Urdu as their primary language of communication and English as one of the academic languages or the most prestigious second language) of five universities located in Lahore, Pakistan. The data was primarily from their Facebook communication on the wall. The procedure for analysis was conceived within the current theoretical work on text analysis. At any given moment in time, interpersonal communication of Urdu/English bilinguals shows linguistic simplicity and complexity. The linguistic features which involve complexity are generally avoided and linguistic simplicity is emerging as the norm. The diachronic analysis of the data supports non-complexity axiom and further shows that the linguistic variations which used to occur over a period of decades are presumably spreading in a matter of years.