Digitalization Of The Neological Picture Of The World: A Discourse-Dialogical Perspective

Abstract

The work touches upon the features of digitalization of the neological picture of the world in a discursive-dialogical perspective. The research material is neological units of the English language, taken from lexicographic sources by the continuous sampling method. The work notes that in the modern world, characterized by turning points in the civilization plan, the study of the foundations of the formation of society, the role of information technology and new discursive practices of social interaction is of particular importance. In the framework of these areas, the question is raised about the forms and modalities of the attitude to oneself and others, through which an individual constitutes and recognizes himself as a subject. Language is a social phenomenon which is compiled of many elements. It is used in communication and constantly develops. The paper emphasizes that during periods of social stability, the processes of language development proceed hastelessly and gradually, and the language changes affect individual parts of the system. At a time of social upheaval, the processes of language development are accelerating, an impression of chaos and instability is created. In accordance with the peculiarities of the situation in society, the psychological attitudes of the masses, their language taste and flair of the language are changing. The development of society is mirrored in the vocabulary. With the help of lexical units, a person carries out a representation of real-world objects. Certain knowledge of reality, sufficient to identify real or ideal entities indicated by words is stored in the vocabulary.

Keywords: Axiological dominantdigitalizationdiscursive-dialogical perspectivemodalityneological picture of the worldneologism

Introduction

In the modern world, characterized by turning points in the civilization plan, the study of the foundations of the formation of society, the role of information technology and new discursive practices of social interaction is of particular importance. Within the framework of these areas, the question is raised about the forms and modalities of the attitude towards oneself and others, through which the individual constitutes and recognizes himself as a subject (Fuko, 1996; Garcés-Conejos Blitvich & Bou-Franch, 2019; Wieczorek, 2020).

The Internet space defines a special type of communicative situation at the level of interpersonal communication for representing an individual as a digital personality. A digital personality is realized in such parameters as freedom of entry and exit from the communicative space or a given communication format, perceptual secrecy, anonymity, global addressing, which determine its existence. The listed parameters allow the personality to acquire certain discursive opportunities: freedom of expression; influence on the construction of social meanings; structuring and broadcasting scenarios of a possible world. A digital person thus implements an Internet discourse of a certain genre (Popova, 2017).

Problem Statement

Changes that inevitably occur as a result of technological and scientific progress, have affected all spheres of human life. Changes in the nature of perception of the world and the way people communicate are a result of experimenting with artificial reality. A vivid example of this is the emergence and development of such a phenomenon as a social network.

Such basic notions as text and means of its linguistic interpretation were transformed. It led to the appearance of new text forms that require polyparadigmatic linguistic study in the space of the Internet. This transformation can be explained by the development of informational technology as well as the increase of influence of digital media on linguistic picture of the world shaping (Cap, 2016; Dillenbourg, 2016; Khalin & Chernova, 2018).

Language is a social phenomenon that is compiled by various elements and prone to constant changes. It mirrors the society by means of the diversity of the vocabulary, appearance of new words that are aimed at the reflection of ongoing processes.

Research Questions

3.1. How do neologisms in the digital age influence the picture of the world?

3.2. How does the semantic potential of the analyzed neological units reflect the changes taking place in society?

3.3. What types of discourse are involved in creating units that are semantically oriented towards the digitalization of society?

Purpose of the Study

Voyskunsky (2002) believes that the Internet is not only and not so much interconnected computers and computer networks, but interconnected and active people working in this environment along with the products of their activity – messages, web pages, catalogs and data archives, navigation routes, computer viruses, etc.

Modern linguistics explores the features of communication in the framework of the discursive direction that determines the development of modern linguistics as a whole. There are various works on the problems of discourse (Jones et al., 2015; Pearson, 2017).

The dynamic processes occurring in a language are especially clearly reflected in the vocabulary. The emergence of new words provides a unique material for the study of not only the main contemporary directions in the development of the language at this historical stage but also allows the researchers to judge the level of development of society, the life of the people who speak this language (Cécile, 2018; Fontaine, 2017; O'Dell, 2016).

Research Methods

The work used observation and classification of the studied material as well as contextual-semantic methods, the purpose of which is to analyze a neologism as a part of a text fragment, which is a communicative event that requires decoding. The method of the interpretative method was also implemented.

Findings

The beginning of the digital era has opened up enormous opportunities and new standards of communication for the media, audience, government, society, individuals and, accordingly, building relationships between them. The process of mastering a new communicative reality is taking place in all spheres of life: politics, economics (digital economy), culture, the information sphere in general, and types of information consumption in particular (Kachkaeva et al., 2017).

In the neological system of the English language, the concept of digitalization has also been embodied. Neologization, updating the lexical repertoire of a language, is a process that is triggered by two global mechanisms: external and internal. The first is related to the replenishment of the lexical structure of a language through borrowings from other languages due to direct and indirect language contacts; the other happens due to the reasons prompting intralinguistic word-making. Both mechanisms, in turn, are either related to the need to verbalize emerging concepts, or to the necessity to eliminate homonymous forms, or to the desire or need to update language forms caused by the desire for expression, novelty, witty appeal of speech, language fixation of new associations (Katermina et al., 2020).

New words are an integral part of a language. Neologisms add dynamism to the language, since vocabulary changes over time, the vocabulary is constantly updated. Scholars emphasize that the division of the outside world, carried out using the language, is reflected primarily in the vocabulary. The lexicalization of the concept indicates its special significance for this culture. Therefore, the vocabulary of the language is of crucial importance for the development of the linguistic picture of the world (Kretov et al., 2016).

Most of the studied neological units with the “digital” component are of metaphoric character. Metaphor plays the role of a prism through which a person sees the world, for metaphor manifests itself in a nationally specific way in all areas of the functioning of the language, as well as in mythologies, archetypes, etc. Metaphors reflect basic cultural values, they are anthropometric because they create new concepts in accordance with the human scale of knowledge.

The anthropocentricity of the neological picture of the world is represented by units that reflect the processes and phenomena characteristic of a person: hangover – feeling of tiredness and malaise, because you went overboard with alcohol or drugs the day before; detox – the process of removing harmful substances from your body by eating only particular foods; dementia – a serious illness affecting someone’s brain and memory in which they gradually stop being able to think or behave in a normal way; amnesia – a medical condition that makes you unable to remember things, often caused by damage to the brain; diet – a limited range of foods that someone eats to improve their health; divorce – a legal way of ending a marriage; afterlife – posthumous existence that begins after people die .

These processes can be divided into those that are inherent in humans throughout life and are associated with both physiological and social and philosophical phenomena ( hangover, detox diet , on the one hand, and divorce, afterlife , on the other).

It should also be noted such concepts as dementia and amnesia – memory loss – are the processes that are characteristic of a certain period of a person's life.

Let us consider what content these concepts receive in the modern digitalized neological picture of the world; digital hangover – feeling of embarrassment because of photos and other evidence posted online; digital detox – time without using digital devices usually to lower the stress level and catch up with the reality; digital diet – a intentional limitation of time spent on surfing the Web.

Digitalization of everyday human processes can be expressed as follows:

1) a sense of shame and regret caused by photos of awkward human behavior published on social networks – digital hangover ;

2) the amount of time a person spends outside social networks (an attempt to reduce stress and return to the real world) – digital diet, digital detox .

Digitalization of society has also affected changes in social relations, for example, the concept of digital divorce – a legal process to terminate a marriage online .

A notable event was the emergence of neologism digital afterlife – what remains of a person online after their death – for a modern person it is important.

Digitalization of the neological picture of the world and its influence on humans brings a negative result: there are processes associated with poor memory, brain functioning, which is associated with the extensive use of social networks, mobile phones and the Internet: digital dementia – impaired memory and cognitive functioning due to the extended use of digital devices; digital amnesia – a situation when a person can't recall basic things, like dates, telephone numbers due to over-reliance on their digital devices for keeping this information .

It is not surprising that social networks also influence a person’s nomination: there is no proper realization of a phonomenon until it is named. It is the process of the world cognition and finding one’s place in it (Katermina, 2016).

These nominations are related to the skills and abilities of people in their professional field (digerati – (humor) people who are skillful at computers and the Internet; digital nomad – someone who uses technology, especially a laptop and a wireless network, to work remotely from almost any place in the world); it is also a nomination of the generation of people who grew up in the era of the digital revolution (digital native – a person, born in the era of digital technology; digital immigrant [antonym to digital native]).

Professionalism consists in having computer and the Internet knowledge and experience, as well as using technology for remote work – to use technology, especially a laptop and a wireless network, to work remotely from anywhere in the world.

Also the metaphorical embodiment of the data stream is of some interest ( digital fire hose – an enormous stream of information ), a social network in which people talk about television shows or sports events ( digital water cooler – (informal) a social network on which users discuss something such as a films or sports events ) and a specially shaped screen ( digital globe – a sphere-shaped display screen ).

If the data stream is compared with a fire hose, and the social network with a cooler is images of objects used in human life, then the screen is associated in a digital neological picture of the world with a globe, a model of the globe.

Unconditional is the fact that the neological picture of the world includes units associated with modern digital technologies: digital autopsy – a scalpel-free autopsy which involves 3-D scanning; digital surgery – techniques used in filmmaking process aimed at making actors appear more attractive; digital vellum – a process that will allow digital files to be accessed at any time in the future so that important data and documents will always be available; digital fabrication – the creation of an object using a digital program, such as 3-D printer.

These new inventions help people to be more active, healthy and efficient. They are aimed at improving the human appearance, the possibility of contactless invasion, including 3-D scanning, creating an object using a digital model or program, or instant access to digital files.

Lexemes in the definition of which there are semes indicating the importance for a person and society – 3-D scanning, post production techniques, available, 3-D printer – indicate the progress of science and technology caused by the digitalization of society.

Progress is inevitably associated with negative phenomena. Social phenomena such as discrimination and theft are also present in digital society and are reflected in the neological picture of the world: digital redlining – discrimination against a customer by a business based on ratings the customer received in the past; digital pickpocketing – the theft of data from a mobile device, particularly one that contains a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip for transmitting information wirelessly .

Neologism, due to its ability to not only reflect, but also “absorb” the culture of native speakers to which it belongs, has become a powerful linguistic and social mediator in recent decades, serving to enrich both the language itself and, in fact, the social environment as a whole.

Conclusion

Languages are characterized by a never-ending process of new words appearance. In periods of social stability, the processes of language development proceed hastelessly and gradually, and language changes affect individual parts of the system. At a time of social upheaval, the processes of language development are accelerating, an impression of chaos and instability is created. In accordance with the peculiarities of the situation in society, the psychological attitudes of the masses, their language taste and flair of the language are changing (Senko, 2016).

The interaction of cultural and linguistic pictures of the world result in distribution of new words in various conceptual areas of English socioculture.

Basising on the research the authors may state that a contemporary addressee plays an active part in a communication act: they interpret the event in their own way, bringing in new ideas in the world and causing its modification.

Social media play an important role in the processes of mediation, generating social phenomena and transforming the communication structure of society. They saturate the information space and provide new opportunities for meeting social needs.

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