A MEDIA-LINGUISTIC AND LINGUOPRAGMATIC STUDY

Abstract

The rapid development of computer technologies and the Internet has significantly transformed contemporary media discourse and contributed to the emergence of a rapidly expanding body of specialized terminology. Terms originally associated with computer science and information technology, such as algorithm, browser, platform, hyperlink, cloud, cybersecurity, livestream, chatbot, and artificial intelligence, have become common elements of digital journalism, social media, online advertising, blogs, and everyday Internet communication. This article examines computer and Internet terminology in digital media discourse from media-linguistic and linguopragmatic perspectives. The study focuses on the structural, semantic, functional, and pragmatic characteristics of computer and Internet terms and analyzes how their meanings and communicative functions may change according to media context. The research employs descriptive, structural-semantic, contextual, discourse, comparative, and linguopragmatic methods. The findings demonstrate that computer and Internet terminology in digital media performs not only a nominative and informative function but also evaluative, persuasive, expressive, attention-attracting, and identity-forming functions. Particular attention is paid to semantic extension and metaphorization in terms such as friend, follow, post, stream, cloud, viral, platform, and footprint. The study argues that digital media plays an important role in popularizing, contextualizing, and partially conventionalizing specialized terminology. Thus, computer and Internet terminology represents an important linguistic component of contemporary digital media discourse.