Cyber Language used by University Syudents: Textual Analysis of Facebook page “Confessions” El ciberlenguaje juvenil universitario: Análisis de los textos de la

Propósitos y Representaciones
Jul.-Dec. 2018, Vol. 6, Nº 2: pp.339-405
http://dx.doi.org/10.20511/pyr2018.v6n2.238
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Syntax is the branch of linguistics and its object of study is the relationships 
that words establish with each other when combined to form superior units 
of meaning. Syntax is the essential domain of the language system, and its 
alteration, whether in order or structure, can endanger the intelligibility of the 
message. Altering the syntax produces, among other things, distortions in the 
structure and functionality of words, which at the same time can explain why 
orthography presents so many alterations (Giammatteo & Albano, 2010). 
The different syntactic structures of a language are created to satisfy 
specific communicative needs. Therefore, considering syntax as a set of 
abstract structural rules according to which a language is organized cannot 
be considered its ultimate purpose. It is the use that has forced specialists to 
reconsider this idea. The syntactic use of words and constructions typical 
of cyber language makes it possible to bring it closer to a type of colloquial 
language. This is observed in the brief and simple phrases used in the social 
networks texts, characteristics that are very common in the oral language, 
which reinforces one of the fundamental characteristics of this type of 
language, and which integrates characteristics of the oral form into its 
structure.
Therefore, rather than talking about an embedded syntax, we can consider 
that the Internet language uses a concatenated syntax in which the statements 
accumulate progressively. Thus, it is common to find sentence development 
such as enumerations, segmentations, juxtaposition, coordination and 
subordination, or the frequency of expansions and expressive reductions 
of the communication nucleus (paraphrase) or explanatory detours that 
determines the slow evolution of the contribution of information (Pérez, 
2012).
According to Briz (1996, as quoted in Pérez, 2012), it can be considered 
that this type of language uses a non-conventional syntax that borders on the 
informal language. 

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