Language, Identity, and Digital Communication in Youth Culture

Abstract Book of the 12th International Academic Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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Language, Identity, and Digital Communication in Youth Culture

Ramona Duna, Bianca Garabet

ABSTRACT:

In the context of accelerating digital transformation, youth culture has emerged as a privileged site for the redefinition of identity, language, and communicative practices. The present study explores the ways in which digitally native generations construct, negotiate, and perform identity through digital platforms, musical subcultures, and novel forms of symbolic expression emerging within online environments. Situated at the intersection of language, identity, and digital culture, this study investigates the mechanisms through which trap functions as an emergent communicative paradigm, articulating new forms of belonging, authenticity, and self-representation within digitally mediated environments. The research adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, situated at the intersection of communication sciences and the sociology of culture, proposing an analysis of the relationship between language, identity, and technology in the contemporary context. Particular attention is given to the mechanisms through which young people employ hybrid linguistic registers, visual aesthetics, and culture-specific codes to articulate their belonging to digital communities and to negotiate their identity positions within technologically mediated spaces. The study argues that the communicative practices of youth do not merely represent adaptive responses to new digital media but constitute active forms of cultural agency through which traditional paradigms of communication are fundamentally redefined. The transition from linear models toward participatory networked and multimodal configurations reflects a structural shift in the relationship between identity, community, and communicative environment. The paper thus contributes to a deeper understanding of the ways in which digital youth culture reshapes the languages, values, and mechanisms of identity construction in contemporary society.

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Participatory Communication; Self-Representation