HYBRID LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC INNOVATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Social media activism is one of the central spheres of modern political activities where hybrid and innovative linguistic practices develop collective voice, identity, and mobilization. Although the antecedent scholarship has explored digital activism and sociolinguistic transformation, there has been an empirical gap in exploring the systematic functioning of linguistic hybridity on various milieus and platforms of activism. The current query will be used to fill this gap by carrying out a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) based on the PRISMA framework, thus synthesizing the empirical results of 36 peer-reviewed articles published in 2020-2026. The review synthesizes sociolinguistic and theoretical communication approaches to challenge the practices of translanguaging, code-switching, multimodality, hashtag activism, and meme-driven discourses on such platforms as Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thematic synthesis produces four major patterns: (1) hybrid linguistic practices enable identity performance and collective alignment; (2) linguistic innovation deepens affective engagement and visibility; (3) platform affordances regulate the diffusion and normalization of activist discourse; and (4) structural inequalities limit expressive agency despite manifest linguistic creativity. Results show that the language hybridity in social media activism acts as a means of discursive power, which mediates the political activities in networked publics. This piece of writing adds a synthesizing analytical framework that places linguistic innovation as a major booster of digital activism, but provides a synthesis of analytical rigor to inform future transdisciplinary research.