YJSSH
Vol. 1 No. 3 (2025): Young Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Lexical Ambiguity in Gen Z's Digital Dialogue

Isabel Selmiola Sabrina (Unknown)
Damanik , Bernieke Anggita Ristia (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
22 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study investigates the manifestation and resolution of lexical ambiguity within the unique communicative landscape of Generation Z. As digital natives, Gen Z frequently engages in multimodal and context-dependent communication, often embedding double meanings in everyday discourse for humor, identity expression, and social cohesion. Utilizing qualitative content analysis, this research analyzed instances of ambiguous lexical usage gathered from Gen Z-dominant social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. A corpus of 150 samples was selected and analyzed through the lens of discourse analysis and pragmatics. The findings reveal that Gen Z commonly employs lexical ambiguity in the form of polysemy and homonymy, relying on contextual cues, shared cultural knowledge, and digital semiotics (e.g., emojis and memes) to disambiguate meaning. These results underscore the dynamic and strategic nature of language in digital spaces, offering insights into Gen Z's sophisticated use of ambiguity as both a communicative tool and a marker of group identity.

Copyrights © 2025






Journal Info

Abbrev

yjssh

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Social Sciences

Description

Young Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (YJSSH) is an academic journal which focuses on social and humanistic issues, both of a conceptual and an empirical nature. The journal uses a multidisciplinary perspective with a focus on the main issue. The journal is open to all to contribute to it, ...