Publication Date
Spring 4-5-2026
Presentation Length
15 minutes
College
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Department
English, Department of
Student Level
Graduate
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Monteverde
Presentation Type
Article
Summary
This research observes the use of language within FPS gaming. Data was collected by solo queuing into the battle royale FPS, Apex Legends, and analyzing the way the player group develops different verbiage to meet the communication needs of the game. Four forms of word-formation mechanisms were observed: compounding (hitbox), borrowing (heaven), noun-verb conversion (spawn), and new-word formation (int-ing). This work supports the hypothesis that the lexical formations which are most-opted for within these games result from noun-verb conversion, due to the fact that these formations are typically monosyllabic and thus more efficient within time-sensitive gameplay. This research explores whether this progression toward monosyllabic lexicon distinguishes the dialect of FPS gamers most heavily from Modern English, which opts for affixation and blending more commonly in its lexical formations
Recommended Citation
Balteiro, Isabel. “Lexical and Morphological Devices in Gamer Language in Fora.” Approaches to Video Game Discourse: Lexis, Interaction, Textuality, Astrid Ensslin, Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, pp. 40–55. Jagoda, Patrick. “Introduction: Conceptual games, or the language of video games.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 45, no. 1, Sept. 2018, pp. 130–136, https://doi.org/10.1086/699584. Vnucko, Gregor, et al. “Exploring the relationship between Digital Gaming, language attitudes, and academic success in EFL University students.” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 13, July 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e33301. Furianto, and Risa Rumentha Simanjuntak. “Gaming language as a language variations in digital humanities.” E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 388, 2023, p. 04010, https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202338804010.
