'Tribes' with own language rising online - Times of India

LONDON: Scientists have discovered the emergence of a new trend on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, where people are forming into tribe-like communities with their own unique languages.

These communities have a common character, occupation or interest and have developed their own distinctive languages, according to the study led by scientists from Royal Holloway University in collaboration with Princeton University. "This means that by looking at the language someone uses, it is possible to predict which community he or she is likely to belong to," said John Bryden from the Royal Holloway. "We searched for unusual words that are used a lot by one community. For example, one community often mentioned Justin Bieber, while another talked about Obama," he said.