Research gap Analysis Gricean Communication in Generation Z Natural & Artificial Language

Abstract

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), social media platforms, and digital communication technologies has significantly transformed the communicative practices of Generation Z, influencing how language is produced, interpreted, and negotiated within digitally mediated environments. These developments have generated new forms of interaction in which human communication increasingly intersects with algorithmically shaped linguistic patterns, raising important questions regarding communicative effectiveness, ethical responsibility, and the dignity of social interaction. This article examines Gricean communication in the context of the relationship between natural language and AI-influenced language and explores its implications for maintaining meaningful and respectful human interaction in contemporary digital culture. This study employs a conceptual-theoretical research design based on an integrative literature review and conceptual analysis. Rather than collecting empirical data from respondents, the study critically synthesizes interdisciplinary scholarship from pragmatics, communication ethics, digital culture, human–AI interaction, and media studies. Through thematic analysis of the literature, the study examines how Grice’s Cooperative Principle and conversational maxims provide an interpretive framework for understanding emerging patterns of AI-mediated communication and their ethical consequences.The analysis indicates that contemporary digital communication increasingly incorporates linguistic structures influenced by technological systems, resulting in hybrid communicative practices that combine natural language with AI-assisted forms of expression. While these developments may enhance efficiency, accessibility, and communicative adaptability, they also introduce challenges related to contextual interpretation, ambiguity, emotional authenticity, and interpersonal understanding. From a Gricean perspective, the maxims of quantity, quality, relation, and manner remain essential normative principles for sustaining clarity, relevance, sincerity, and mutual intelligibility within technologically mediated interactions. This article argues that the dignity of social interaction is fundamentally linked to ethical communication practices that acknowledge interlocutors as persons deserving respect, understanding, and responsible engagement. By integrating Gricean pragmatics with contemporary discussions of AI-mediated communication, the study develops a conceptual framework that clarifies both the opportunities and ethical challenges of communication in the digital era and provides a foundation for future empirical research on language, technology, and human relationality.