Blending Word-Formation Indonesia (Medan Language) and English on Tiktok Accounts

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital communication has significantly transformed linguistic practices, particularly word-formation strategies among young speakers on social media platforms. This study investigates the morphological process of blending in Indonesian (Medan dialect) and English as used on the TikTok accounts @medan.dubbing and @easyenglishyureka. The importance of this topic lies in understanding how blending functions as both a creative and pragmatic linguistic tool across different languages and digital contexts. The objectives of this research are to identify the blended words used by each account, to analyze their morphological blending structures, and to compare their sociocultural functions. A qualitative descriptive method was employed, with data collected through systematic observation and documentation of content from the two TikTok accounts. Ten blended terms were collected from @medan.dubbing and five from @easyenglishyureka. The findings reveal that Indonesian (Medan) blending predominantly involves clipping and overlapping strategies that create phonological mimicry of global place names applied humorously to local geography (e.g., turki for tuntungan belok kiri), while English blending on @easyenglishyureka follows standardized clipping and overlapping patterns to encode modern emotional and lifestyle concepts (e.g., hangry from hungry and angry). Despite both languages employing blending through clipping and overlapping, Medan blends are more humor-oriented, identity-specific, and context-dependent, whereas English blends exhibit greater standardization in global digital discourse. It is recommended that future research explore the long-term integration of these digital blends into formal linguistic systems and examine generational perceptions of blending in both communities.