Дипломная работа (ВКР) — бакалавр, специалист на тему Pragmatic functions of abbreviations in English-language social media

Содержание:

Introduction. 3

Chapter
I. Theoretical aspects of the concept of “Pragmatics” and “Abbreviation”. 5

1.1. Definition of the term “pragmatics”. 5

1.2. Pragmatic functions of the language. 9

1.3. The term “Abbreviation.”
Definition. 12

Conclusion
for Chapter I 17

Chapter
II.  Features of using abbreviations in
English-language social networks. 18

2.1. Social networks and their
language features. 18

2.2. Features of the use of
abbreviations in the modern English-language social media  28

2.3. Pragmatic functions of
abbreviations (based on publications in English-language social networks) 31

Conclusion
for Chapter II 36

Conclusion. 38

References. 40

Введение:

Pragmatics is a science that studies linguistic
units in their use, in relation to those who use them. At the same time, the
main attention is focused on the conditions for using the concrete word and the
effect that this word has on the addressee during communication. However,
isolating the pragmatic component in the meaning of the word is not an easy
task. As a matter of fact, linguistic pragmatics is one of the most promising directions
of modern linguistics. As an integral part, it is included in the theory of
language and is studied in the course of general linguistics.

Nowadays the Internet has become and firmly
established itself as a universal means of communication between people. This
is a huge open space in which its own laws and norms, including linguistic
ones, reign. When visiting various sites, chats, communicating by e-mail, we
notice that in the virtual space, words are often used not according to the
rules. Communication on social networks can be characterized as communication “on
the run” with no punctuation marks, often without capital letters, with
numerous abbreviations, replacements, and neologisms. It can be argued that
with the advent of the Internet, a new sphere in the communication process, a
certain intermediate type of communication appeared. Based on these statements,
it becomes abundantly clear that the Internet language is a new form of
language. In this regard, the question naturally arises: how does communication
in social networks affect the norms of the English language? How has English
changed in social media in terms of pragmatics? Is it pragmatically correct to
use abbreviations, acronyms and other linguistic signs while communicating on
social media?

The relevance of the paper lies in the growing popularity
of the media, which in itself becomes a priority on the way to the effective
and inclusive worldwide information sharing. The goal is determined by the need
to fill the existing gap in the description of abbreviations and abbreviated
vocabulary, which have not yet been studied from the standpoint of pragmatics,
presenting, if possible, an adequate picture of the pragmatic reasons for the
creation and use of abbreviations in their natural environment.

The aim of the research is to describe the
stylistic potential of specific abbreviations and identify their functioning.

The goal of the paper determined the following
research objectives:

1) to define the words “pragmatics” and
“abbreviation”;

2) to study specific characteristics and
features of abbreviations used on social media and analyze theoretical and
practical concepts;

3) to identify pragmatic functions of
abbreviations based on publication on Facebook and Twitter.

The object of the study of this paper is English-language
social media. The subject of the research is to study thoroughly the use of abbreviations
on social media in terms of pragmatics.

The purpose, objectives, object and subject of
research determined the following structure of the course work: introduction,
two chapters, conclusion, and references.

Заключение:

The Internet today is a source of information.
But the speed and availability of communication between users made it possible
to use the Internet not only as a learning tool, but also as a means of
communication and entertainment. Virtual communication, which arose due to the
rapid development of the network, gave rise to a special language — the
language of virtual communication. Social networks are currently the main way
people communicate. The language of the Internet communication has been
developing, changing and extending itself into our daily life. The process of
interaction between people on social networks is a whole ritual that takes
place within the framework of its own rules and laws. To better understand the
changes in English influenced by social media, fundamental theoretical
knowledge in the field of communications was studied.

First, the characteristics of the main means of communication were
investigated, namely, the definition of communication, its social meaning, the
sides of this process, the main components and methods of transferring
information were considered. The structure of communication and the components
of speech activity were also studied. Secondly, a thorough analysis of the
specifics of the language of social networks was carried out. Its main features
are mass character, mediation, an increase in the number of forced contacts, a
contradiction between the form, means of communication and its content, as well
as the active growth of quasi-communication. The
phenomenon of abbreviation in language has been of keen interest in linguistics
as they are effective not only in providing concise information, but perform
many other functions in specialized 
discourses, and now are common in communication using electronic
devices. Their role is underestimated and the study of pragmatic and cognitive aspects of abbreviations has
to reveal their specifics in various communicative contexts. The
analysis of abbreviations in its
pragmatic discourse identified
such functions as avoiding repetition of specific terms, providing for
concise information, discourse deictic
function, stylistic function, distinctive function, coding information function,
genre functions. The forms of
abbreviations found on social networks differ, the use of initialisms is
predominant, special knowledge
of abbreviated forms is often required to understand their meaning.
abbreviation  process comes into use  in many 
areas of  human  activity, as 
information  flows are getting
intensified  the  role 
of  abbreviations  become 
more  diversified.  The 
pragmatic  aspects  of abbreviations promote  in-depth 
study  of their  discursive 
functions  and  communication perspectives.

To sum up, taking into consideration the
information mentioned above, abbreviations include not only words, but entire
phrases. With the help of them, users of social networks can express their
attitude to the topic of conversation or emotions. The vocabulary is mobile, so
the composition of the language changes greatly under the influence of external
factors. So, words, currently having the status of neologisms, in a couple of
years will enter the main human lexicon and will be considered typical for use.
Social media English vocabulary has additional vocabulary, profanity and
jargon. Word order in English is fixed and has a certain scheme according to
which all sentences are built. All the rules of the English sentence lose their
meaning when considered in the context of the communication of users on social
networks. The main change in the syntax of the English language of social
networks is users’ disregard for strict frameworks and schemes when writing
sentences and the same applies to punctuation. Therefore, pragmatic functions
of abbreviations concern brevity, simplification, creativity, and
contextualization.

Фрагмент текста работы:

Chapter I. Theoretical aspects of
the concept of “Pragmatics” and “Abbreviation”

1.1. Definition
of the term “pragmatics”

Pragmatics is a branch of semiotics that
studies the relationship of language symbols to the subjects who produce and
interpret them [28]. In other words, pragmatics is the study of meaning in
language in a particular context. This includes the place where the thing is
said, who says it, and the things that you have already said. Also, pragmatics
studies how people speak when they both know something. Pragmatics, as a rule,
is considered within the framework of the interdisciplinary field of studies of
signs and semiotic systems of semiotics together with its two other sections:
semantics and syntactics. The former section considers signs in their relation
to designated (not having a sign nature) objects, the second – the relationship
of signs to each other (syntax). The most important subject of study for
pragmatics is the pragmatic aspect of language.

The term “pragmatics” was introduced at the end
of the 1930s by C. W. Morris to designate one of the three sections of
semiotics (along with syntactics and semantics) [27]. However, the very
pragmatic aspect of the existence of sign systems (including language) was
first carefully considered by Charles S. Peirce at the end of the 19th century.
Peirce (like Morris, who largely followed his ideas) considered the pragmatic
component to be the main one for determining the essence of the sign. The sign
becomes such not due to its physical properties, but due to its certain use in
the community. Therefore, both the method of constructing sign structures
(syntax) and the relation of signs to designated objects (semantics) are only a
means for signs to perform their main function: to provide communication
between people.

According to Peirce, cognition is the process
of mediating reality by signs. The need for mediation arises because cognitive
activity is carried out not by an isolated subject (as the philosophical
tradition coming from R. Descartes tries to present), but by a community, which
in its joint actions develops a general idea of ​​the world. The process of
cognition consists in the production and interpretation of signs (mainly
linguistic). In this sense, the truth, according to Peirce, is not the
correspondence of judgments to some objective state of affairs [30]. It represents
a community consensus. In other words, truth is not a semantic concept (as it
is represented, for example, by A. Tarski), but a pragmatic concept.

For several decades after Peirce, despite the
wide interest in topics related to language and sign systems, pragmatic issues
were hardly touched upon by researchers. Most of the works in the field of
semiotics, linguistics and philosophy of language focused on the
syntactic-semantic approach. A surge of interest in pragmatics (mainly
linguistic) arose already in the second half of the 20th century and was
associated with developments within the framework of analytical philosophy (see
Analytical philosophy). The first significant events that testified to this
were, firstly, the late works of L. Wittgenstein, and secondly, the theory of
speech acts by J. Austin.

In Wittgenstein’s concept one can see the
absolutization of the pragmatic aspect of language (although Wittgenstein
himself does not use the term “pragmatics”). In this sense, the thesis proposed
by him is a feature