“Ça” or “sa”? Linguistic mistakes in French YouTube comments

Öz

This study examines the formal transformation of written French in digital communication by analyzing 150 user comments posted under videos of popular French YouTube content creators. Structured as a qualitative case study, the research categorizes linguistic errors, grammatical, orthographic, and punctuation-based, using the classification model developed by Lastres-López and Manalastas (2018). Data were collected between April and June 2025 from highly interactive videos, with only comments written in French included in the analysis. Findings indicate that the most frequent errors involve verb conjugation, determiner agreement, capitalization omissions, missing diacritics, and exaggerated or incorrect punctuation use. While many of these errors do not impair the intended meaning, some structural violations were found to directly affect comprehension. The study demonstrates that social media users tend to distance themselves from normative language rules in favor of a faster and more interaction-oriented writing style. This shift is shown to stem not only from linguistic insufficiencies but also from deliberate communication strategies inherent to digital contexts. Ultimately, the study offers a unique and systematic insight into the evolving nature of written French in social media, highlighting a prioritization of communicative function over formal linguistic accuracy.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Digital communication
• French language
• Linguistic transformation
• YouTube comments
• Spelling errors

“Ça” mı “sa” mı? Fransızca YouTube yorumlarında dilsel hatalar

Öz

Bu çalışma, Fransızca’nın dijital yazılı iletişimdeki biçimsel dönüşümünü, popüler Fransız YouTube içerik üreticilerine ait videoların altına yazılan 150 kullanıcı yorumunu inceleyerek ortaya koymaktadır. Nitel araştırma kapsamında yapılandırılan durum çalışması, dil bilgisel, yazım ve noktalama hatalarını Lastres-López ve Manalastas’ın (2018) sınıflandırma modeliyle analiz etmektedir. Veriler, 2025 yılı Nisan-Haziran aylarında yüksek etkileşimli videolardan toplanmış ve sadece Fransızca yorumlar değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Çalışmanın bulgularına göre, en yaygın hatalar fiil çekimi, belirteç uyumsuzluğu, büyük harf eksikliği, aksan ihmali ve noktalama işaretlerinin yanlış ya da abartılı kullanımı olarak tespit edilmiştir. Birçok hatanın yorumun anlamını bozmadığı fakat bazı yapısal bozuklukların anlamı doğrudan etkilediği tespit edilmiştir. Çalışma, sosyal medya kullanıcılarının yazılı Fransızcayı normatif kurallardan uzaklaştırarak daha hızlı ve etkileşim odaklı bir biçimde kullandığını göstermektedir. Bu durum, dildeki hataların yalnızca yeterlilik eksikliğinden değil, aynı zamanda dijital ortamlara özgü iletişim stratejilerinden de kaynaklandığını ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, sosyal medyada yazılı dilin evrilen doğasına dair özgün ve sistematik bir örnek sunmakta; dijital iletişimin biçimsel doğruluk yerine işlevselliği öncelediğini göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dijital iletişim
• Fransızca
• Yazım hataları
• YouTube yorumları
• Dilsel dönüşüm

Kaynakça

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