Understanding Youth Slang in the Digital Age: A Systematic Literature Review of Identity, Multilingualism, Generational Gaps, and NLP Applications

Abstract

Youth slang has become a central feature of digital communication, shaping how adolescents and young users construct identity, negotiate peer relationships, engage in multilingual practices, and participate in platform-based cultures. This systematic literature review examines the state of research on youth slang in the digital age, with specific attention to identity construction, multilingualism, intergenerational communication gaps, computational/NLP applications, and digital literacy implications. Guided by PRISMA procedures, the review synthesizes 25 selected studies published between 2020 and 2026 and organizes them into five themes: youth slang, identity construction, and peer communication; multilingualism, code-mixing, and language transformation; intergenerational understanding and communication gaps; computational/NLP approaches to slang detection, translation, and sentiment analysis; and digital literacy, education, and social/health implications. The findings show that youth slang is not merely informal language but a dynamic sociolinguistic resource for expressing belonging, humour, emotion, cultural identity, and online participation. The review also highlights that digital slang increasingly crosses linguistic boundaries through English borrowing, hybrid lexicons, abbreviations, and code-mixing. However, rapidly evolving slang may create communication barriers between youth and older generations and poses challenges for NLP systems due to its contextual, cultural, and multilingual complexity. This review contributes an integrated understanding of youth slang as a sociolinguistic, educational, intergenerational, and technological phenomenon, while emphasizing the need for culturally responsive digital literacy and context-aware computational models.