‘TikTok slang’

This chapter critically interrogates the metapragmatic label ‘TikTok slang’ by consulting the available sociolinguistic evidence. It demonstrates that much of what is enregistered as ‘TikTok slang’ – such as words like cheugy , bussin , and slay – are actually lexical features from African American Vernacular English. Through this analysis, I argue for variationist sociolinguistic work on lexical variation and change in social media to move beyond the traditional approach to ‘media influence on language change’ towards a more contemporary perspective aligned with the study of mediatisation and sociolinguistic change.