Dispute on the Internet: the format of discourse, linguistic technologies, modern language tactics

Introduction

In modern conditions of the development of public relations, the Internet has become a powerful means of communication and a way of forming public opinion. It is thanks to the Internet that society is influenced, various stereotypes about politics, culture, economics, etc. are formed. Thus, the formation of the consciousness of the modern individual is influenced by several factors, among which discourses and disputes play an important role. with human speech activity, can not do without expression, whether oral or written.

Discourse and debate are the focus of many sciences: linguistics, philosophy, psychology, communication theory, etc. The transition to the paradigm of dispute and discourse can be considered a natural development of linguistic thought. More and more modern media outlets are accessing the Internet, combining aspects of mass periodicals and inclusion in the global information network. The functional orientation of discourse involves the implementation of its three main strategies: to attract attention, inform and influence the audience. These strategies determine the leading features of discourse on the Internet, such as the alternation and contrast of standardized and expressive means, the social nature of communication, communicative general significance and accessibility, and multimedia. In general, close to the purpose of the discussion is a dispute, which is a public debate on a scientific or social topic, thinking about one idea, discussing it. The dispute implies freedom, freedom, sincerity of the participants' statements. They are not grouped.

Thus, in today's society, where the main driving force is information, the key discourse that implements the movement of social thought and forms a conceptual picture of the human world has become a dispute on the Internet. Given the popularity of the Internet, the interest of linguists in this phenomenon is becoming apparent.

The terms "computer discourse" and "electronic discourse" are similar in meaning, as they imply communication via computer. Internet discourse differs from other types of discourse by specific principles and rules of structural organization and is characterized by genre diversity. Given the popularity of the Internet and the transition to more and more communication practices, it is safe to say, that linguistic intelligence in the field of Internet communication will increase in direct proportion to this process and will be able to fill existing gaps and shed light on controversial issues related to the peculiarities of communication on the Internet.

Given the significance of this issue, it is necessary to pay special attention to the linguistic and stylistic features of the dispute, differences in its formats, linguistic technologies, format, and tactics to achieve the desired result.

Theoretical Framework or Literature Review

Linguistic and stylistic features of the dispute on the Internet were studied as domestic scholars, but a comprehensive analysis of the dispute was not conducted.

Among the scholars who dispute and discourse issues are: Perhach and Smirnova (2019), Anderson (2020), Ruda (2021), Kozhemyakin (2016), Aleksandrova (2003), Akhrenova (2009), Volodina (2005), Galichkina (2001), Husar (2004), Dobrosklonskaya (2005), Zheltukhina (2003), Zavgordnya (2003), Ilchenko (2003), Kalmykov (2005), Kibrik (2009), Kozhemyakin (2010), Pastukhov (2008), and Khalyapina (2005).

Aleksandrova (2003) studied the language of the media in the context of the collective space of society. According to Aleksandrova (2003), the media is a discourse, because they are dynamic, modern, and perceived by participants in communication in the context of current events. Akhrenova (2009), studied Internet discourse as a global intercultural phenomenon and its linguistic design. 

According to Volodina (2005), the media can be seen as a form of “social dialogue”. Galichkina (2001) focused on the specifics of computer discourse in English and Russian. The scholar defines computer discourse as a multi-genre functional variety of public dialogic and monologue speech that has emerged as a result of interpersonal computer communication. The subject of Husar's study (2004) was the ingvocognitive and communicative-pragmatic aspects of private newspaper advertisements. Meanwhile, Dobrosklonska (2005) in her work identified the role of the media in the dynamics of language processes.

Perhach and Smirnova (2019) devoted their work to define the concept of manipulation as a method of influencing the reader's consciousness, behavior, emotional and psychological state. The work aims to identify the goals of manipulative influence and the essential features of its use in modern print media. The study was based on a selection of articles from various Ukrainian and foreign-language publications. The authors believe that to determine the syntactic, stylistic, morphological, lexical, and semantic means of linguistic implementation of manipulation had to resort to the method of content analysis.

Morevoer, Ilchenko (2003) examined the expression of the name in the media in more detail. Kalmykov (2005) conducted a large-scale study of online journalism. The variety of parameters for the classification of discourses was the subject of Kibrik (2009). Also, Kozhemyakin (2010) analyzed mass communication and discourse methodology through a variety of research methods and dispute technologies.

Pastukhov (2008) considered the features of media texts, in turn, Khalyapina (2005) explored the features of discourses in foreign languages. Peculiarities of Internet media discourse were analyzed by Shevlyakova (2013), using materials from English-language online magazines for teenagers.

Though a large number of works on the peculiarities of dispute and discourse, the topic of linguistic and stylistic features of dispute on the Internet remains incompletely studied; in the context of the above, this issue needs to be studied.

Methodology

During the writing of the article, such scientific methods were used as a method of analogy, method of generalization, method of observation, method of comparison, method of experiment, method of analysis, historical method.

Thus, the method of observation created a general description of debate and discourse on the Internet, analyzed trends in media discourse and political debate, which later allowed us to conclude linguistic technologies and modern language tactics of discourse on the Internet.

The analysis method was used to study the trends in the development of the dispute and found that despite the spread of the dispute on the Internet, the characteristics of the dispute remain the same as during the media dispute outside the Internet. Also, the theoretical analysis of "debate" and "discourse" covered the basic concepts of discourse, and, along with the text and concept, allowed to consider the genre in its discursive function of mediator between individual and society, which provides certain roles of author and reader of the information on the Internet.

Along with the method of analysis, the method of synthesis is used, which consisted in this study in the combination of individual aspects of the study into a single whole. In particular, based on the use of certain formats of discourse, linguistic technologies, and modern language tactics, their role in the formation of communication on the Internet was highlighted. Also, it should be noted that the use of such a method as synthesis, at different stages of the study acquainted with the general features of the object under study and helped to understand its essence.

The method of comparison was used to highlight the features of discourse and debate in different conditions and environments, which in turn allowed to make generalizations about the impact of language tactics on the outcome.

Moreover, the generalization method helped to determine the linguistic and stylistic features of the dispute on the Internet and to draw conclusions about the relationship between tactics, strategy, and form of dispute. Thanks to the method of generalization, it was concluded that the communication process should be addressed as the unity of verbal and nonverbal components of communication, taking into account the influence of social and personal characteristics of the individual on his communicative behavior, including corporate discourse.

The use of the historical method made it possible to study the object of study in terms of features of development, which significantly enriches scientific research, testifies to the reliability of its results and conclusions, confirms scientific objectivity.

The method of modeling was expediently used in the formation of linguistic technologies and tactics of debate on the Internet. Thus, modeling different situations with their further usage in practice, it is more effective to pre-analyze the theoretical aspects, international experience, and model possible developments.

The method of analogy made it possible to establish the relationship of equivalence between the two systems under consideration on some grounds. Disputes on the Internet and beyond have become such systems.

Results and discussion

Before analyzing the linguistic and stylistic features of the dispute on the Internet, it is essential to provide a definition of discourse and dispute.

In general, the term "discourse" was first used by the American scholar Harris in the theory of text linguistics in 1952 (Kalmykov, 2005).

At present, there is no single and generally accepted definition of the term "discourse", which can be explained by the wide popularity of this term, as well as the fact that it is the subject of interdisciplinary research.

On the one hand, discourse is related to the pragmatic situation necessary to determine the coherence of discourse, its communicative adequacy, and interpretation, and on the other hand - with the mental processes of communication (psychological, sociocultural, ethnographic principles and strategies for generating and understanding speech in specific conditions). Discourse develops within a specific situation, and discourse analysis provides an understanding of human interaction aimed at achieving certain goals, with communicators interpreting each other's speech and actions. Thus, the discursive analysis takes into account extralinguistic factors and this expands the boundaries of interpretation.

The large number of discourse typologies that exist today is, on the one hand, a consequence of the fact that not all typologies have clear classification criteria and sufficient empirical material, and on the other – since each area of human activity can generate its type discourse. Moreover, the typology of discourse is always historically determined and in each case is chosen by the researcher to solve specific problems. This suggests that an exhaustive classification of types of discourse is hardly possible or appropriate. However, attempts to create a universal classification of types of discourse do not stop. Today, the leading criteria for distinguishing types of discourse are those that are related to the categories of discourse and can be distinguished in terms of formal, functional, substantive criteria. Thus, the whole general discourse can be logically divided by one or another criterion.

"Computer discourse" is defined as a set of texts that are united by a common theme related to modern computer and information technology.
Accordingly, computer discourse should be understood as communication mediated by electronic means of communication. And the main feature of computer communication is the communication of communicators in cyberspace. Computer-assisted communication can take place on the local, national or global Internet.

Network communication is distinguished according to the mode of interactivity (online, offline), the direction of communication (monologue, dialogue, polylogy), the degree of openness and accessibility (open, private).

A new environment of communication has been formed on the Internet, which includes oral and written speech - the electronic environment. To implement computer discourse, it is necessary to have a technical tool (personal computer), extralinguistic factors (spatial, temporal distance, belonging to a certain social stratum, etc.), familiarity with specific computer vocabulary that serves as a means of unity and self-expression of communicators.

There are the following signs of dispute:

• electronic communication signal;
• virtuality;
• spatial and temporal distance;
• mediation by technical means;
• combination of letter, image-visual, and image-auditory components;
• status equality of communicators;
• the use of "smilies" to convey feelings, emotions;
• combining different types of discourse, and;
• observance of computer ethics (netiquette), etc.

Computer communication has become part of the multidimensional communication of the media. However, unlike traditional media, which is a communication between a socially fixed sender and an undecided addressee of speech, computer discourse enables individuals to communicate. The Internet is a combined way of presenting information to an audience. At the same time, various channels of transmission affect the content of the message transmitted, as well as the process of perception of information by the audience.

Power relations are an important component of the discursive context as a situation of communication, which includes "conditions of communication, subject line, time and place of communication, the communicators themselves, their relationship to each other."

Corporate discourse is a kind of institutional discourse, which is a purposeful communicative action that is implemented in the institutional sphere and manifests itself in interpersonal relationships within the given framework of status-role relations.

For the modern linguistic paradigm, it is significant to study the problem of achieving efficiency, the effectiveness of communication, which is the subject of the theory of speech action. Achieving the effectiveness of communication is possible only with the adequate use of verbal and nonverbal components of communication. In this work, non-verbal components of communication are understood as prosodic, kinesic, and proxemic means used to convey information, organize interaction, form an image, think about a partner, influence another person.

The primary rules of the dispute are:

• non-interference of the teacher without the need for a dispute;
• constructive criticism;
• tolerance and tact of participants;
• the idea, phenomenon, or subject of discussion should be described exhaustively, systematically (in all aspects), and;
• essential statements should be systematized and generalized.

Dispute structure:

• Definition of the idea, opinion, subject of discussion.
• Announcement of the rules of the dispute.

Discussion.
Systematization and generalization of the statement.
Summary. Reflection (EduDirect, 2021).

However, the debate on the Internet has several features.

Consider the example of mass media debate on the Internet. For example, one of the main tasks of mass media discourse is to meet the needs of society in the systematic assimilation of factual social context, depiction of current social reality, receiving, processing, and transmitting information to a wide audience, ensuring mass, orderly, regular and periodic dissemination of socially significant information. Types of media discourse are directly related to the genre-functional features of the media space (Table 1).

Table 1.
Types of mass media discourse according to performed communicative function and Implementation channel.Data provided by Shevlyakova (2013).

At the crossroads of mass media and computer discourses, a new type of discourse was formed - the Internet media discourse. Concerning traditional media, Internet media have the following advantages:

• Multimedia. The Internet allows you to combine visual, audio, print, and video components of different types of media;
• Personalization. Each of the Internet users can find information that interests him, information about any area of interest and human existence;

Interactivity. The Internet provides dialogue, interaction, feedback between Internet users, unlike traditional media;
Lack of intermediaries. Anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can publish information without hindrance, without interference or manipulation.

Conclusion

As a result of the study, the following conclusions were made.

1. Discourse on the Internet has such properties as an electronic signal of communication; virtuality; spatial and temporal distance; combining letter, image-visual, and image-auditory components; status equality of communicators; use of "smilies" to convey feelings, emotions; combining different types of discourse; adherence to computer ethics (netiquette). In turn, the central features of mass media discourse are the mass audience; thematic diversity; efficiency in obtaining mass information and its dissemination; availability of information.
2. The greatest influence on the linguistic features of the Internet dispute is the technological factor, and communication, being conceptually oral, is realized in writing, resulting in a new type of oral discourse with specific features at all levels of the language system.
3. Given the transition to numeral communication techniques, it should be emphasized that linguistic intelligence via Internet will increase (in direct proportion to this process).