Modern Uzbek Language Pollution: An Analysis Through Social Media
Abstract
The rapid expansion of social media in Uzbekistan has transformed patterns of language use, producing both enrichment and degradation of contemporary Uzbek. This paper examines tilning ifloslanishi — “language pollution” — on platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Drawing on recent sociolinguistic studies and corpus data, we identify four dominant forms of pollution: 1) unnecessary lexical borrowing, 2) orthographic instability due to Latin-Cyrillic confusion, 3) grammatical simplification, and 4) meme-driven calques. Data show that code-switching with Russian and English, non-standard spelling, and informal syntax are most prevalent among users aged 13-25. While digital communication accelerates linguistic innovation, it also threatens formal writing standards, intergenerational intelligibility, and the functional integrity of Uzbek. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for educators, content creators, and platform designers to balance digital creativity with language preservation.