Mini-texts of English web-literature in the context of contemporary digital discourse: system-dynamic approach

The article is devoted to the study of modern mini-format literary works of English web literature. This subject is addressed due to the fact that there exists an urgent need to study ways of ensuring effective communication in the light of modern tendencies of verbal optimization of the cognitive processes and the reduction of the physical length of the texts. Mini-texts of web literature are considered from the standpoint of the system-dynamic approach, namely from the point of view of the dynamics of the formation of a complex semantic construct in the process of interaction and mutual influence of different-level elements of the discourse system, including the factors of the exterior environment. The methods of discourse, contextual and linguosynergetic analysis are employed for the analysis of the texts, which allows to understand how systemic interaction of speech elements within a small-format text is organized. In particular, the article describes the mechanisms of the emergence of additional semantic combinations due to the interdiscursive interaction at the level of form and content within the mini-format web narratives. Another mechanism of creating additional semantic structures consists in the violation of the proportionality between the structural and semantic plans of the mini-texts. Besides, attention is paid to ways of expanding the semantic plan of the discourse system due to the specific interaction of lexical operators that form the verbal layers of the text. In general, it is concluded that the synergetic interaction of different-level textual elements is of fundamental importance for ensuring pragmatic effectiveness of small-format web narratives, since on its basis an integral semantic system is formed which does not only influence the cognitive sphere of the recipients, but also is capable of fulfilling their aesthetic needs.

Metapragmatic neology in digital discourse

This note addresses the topic of Judith Bridges’s focus article, namely ‑splain neologisms such as mansplain, thinsplain and covidsplain, from the perspective of morphological theory. I attempt to show that Morphopragmatics, a subfield of morphology, can account for the complex pragmatics of word formation processes like those in ‑splain neology. I propose that the analysis of ‑splain words as constructional idioms, under the framework of Construction Morphology, provides a suitable account of the pragmatic effects associated with the innovations in this lexical pattern.

Identitas digital: Konstruksi identitas pada pameran karya seni Biennale Jawa Timur 8

Biennale merupakan pameran dan diskusi karya seni yang rutin diadakan setiap dua tahun. Tahun 2019 merupakan kegiatan Biennale Jawa Timur (Jatim) ke-8 dengan tema “GAS TOK! Lebur Sakjeroning Jawa Timur” melibatkan 500 seniman dan 40 kurator, terdiri 65 kegiatan yang tersebar di 16 kota dan kabupaten di Jawa Timur. Berbeda dengan kegiatan Biennale Jatim sebelumnya, tahun ini lokasi pameran tersebar di berbagai daerah Jawa Timur. Seluruh arsip data dan dokumentasi rangkaian Biennale Jatim 8 dikumpulkan dan dipublikasikan melalui akun Instagram @jatimbiennale8 sebagai bentuk identitas gerakan komunitas Biennale Jawa Timur. Gelaran Biennale Jatim 8 merupakan sebuah perayaan dan imajinasi bersama yang bersifat inklusif. Penelitian ini mengangkat permasalahan tentang konstruksi identitas komunitas Biennale Jatim. Metode analisa wacana digital dalam penelitian ini menganalisa kontruksi identitas yang diciptakan oleh Biennale Jatim 8 melalui media komunikasi digital media sosial Instagram. Akun Instagram @jatimbienale8 dan @biennalejatim menjadi obyek penelitan analisa wacana kontruksi identitas, dan praktik seni yang terjadi pada Biennale Jatim. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan sebuah wacana perubahan dan perlawanan terhadap kegiatan Biennale Jatim sebelumnnya. Perubahan ditunjukkan dari segi penyelanggara, pendanaan, format acara, lokasi berlangsungnya kegiatan, dan kerja kuratorial. Biennale Jatim 8 mendobrak dan melawan stigma tersebut. Diskursus kontruksi identitas baru tersebut ditunjukkan dengan jelas dan tegas pada proses produksi karya seni, pameran Biennale hingga pasca pameran melalui media sosial Instagram @biennalejatim8 yaitu identitas digital Biennale Jatim. Biennale, an art event (visual) both exhibition and discussion of artworks, comes on regularly every two years. 2019 is the 8th East Java (Jatim) Biennale with the theme “GAS TOK! Lebur Sakjeroning Jawa Timur” involves 500 artists and 40 curators, consisting of 65 activities spread across 16 cities and regencies in East Java. Unlike the previous East Java Biennale, the exhibition locations are spreading across various regions of East Java. All data archives and documentation of the East Java 8 Biennale series are collected and published through the @jatimbiennale8 Instagram account as a form of identity for the East Java Biennale community movement. The 8th East Java Biennale is a celebration and shared inclusive imagination. This research raises the issue of the identity construction of the East Java Biennale community. The digital discourse analysis method in this study analyzes the identity construction created by the East Java 8th Biennale through the digital communication media of Instagram social media. Instagram accounts @jatimbienale8 and @biennalejatim became the object of research on the discourse analysis of identity construction and art practices at the East Java Biennale. The results of this study indicate a discourse of change and resistance to the previous East Java Biennale activities. The changes show organization, funding, event format, location of activities, and curatorial work. The 8th East Java Biennale breaks and fights the stigma. The discourse on constructing a new identity is clearly and unequivocally demonstrated in the art production process, the Biennale exhibition, and post-exhibition through social media Instagram @biennalejatim8, the digital identity of the East Java Biennale.

Quadronimic interpretation of English-language digital discourse

The paper focuses on the English-language digital discourse (EDD) and considers it in terms of Descartes’ square. Despite the incongruence of the medieval philosophical paradigm with the modern stage of posthumanitarian studies, it is the quadronymic and clearly delineated frame, “perspicuae veritates” (according to R. Descartes), which can balance a diverse phenomenon of digital discourse. There are three main aspects of the study considered further: English-language digital discourse and its quadronymic potential, which is interpreted in three main perspectives: in terms of discursive impulse and discourse response; within hyper- / hypodynamic levels of English-language digital discourse and the English-language digital textual space (EDTS). Quadrominic interpretation of English-language digital discourse results in the following findings: symmetry of discourse construction; logic and sequence of discourse representation and its parameters; slot representation of discourse paradigmatic parameters; identification of interdependencies, conditions and parameters of discourse within quadrants.

THE EXPLOITATION OF AUDIENCE AS DIGITAL LABOUR IN INDONESIAN YOUTUBE PLATFORM

In today's digital era, the internet is present in new media and has eliminated the boundaries between production and consumption space. Audiences are no longer just consumers but also actively participate in producing digital content that is uploaded and shared with other audiences. YouTube as one of the most consumed platforms by the audience has driven cultural change in the digital society. YouTube audiences are no longer simply enjoying content produced by the media as in the era of Television but they are watching content produced by other YouTube audiences. The YouTube audience is no longer the role of consumers but also as digital labours who are exploited above economic interests. This study aims to determine the role of the audience as digital labours in the YouTube industry in Indonesia. The research method used is digital discourse which will help researchers to uncover the motivations behind a text. The research results show that the YouTube audience is exploited in the accumulation of capital owners because their activities in producing culture and their attention to cultural content that generates data to attract advertisers' attention have resulted in profits for capital.

Explaining "-splain" in digital discourse

Combining digital discourse analysis and Citizen Sociolinguistics, methodological frames that contend with the effects of evolving digital practices, I present an approach to studying sociolinguistic trends by investigating how social media users talk about what language is doing. This approach is applicable to research on a wide range of linguistic and cultural contexts. The particular focus in this paper, however, is on U.S.-based social issues and linguistic features of American English as they appear in pieces of digital discourse from the micro-blogging platforms Twitter and Tumblr. Situated within the highly fractured sociopolitical climate of the pandemic-afflicted United States, the language under discussion provides a glimpse of some historically relevant sociocultural beliefs and attitudes towards the role of gender and racial identity in sociopolitical discourse. Focusing on uses of -splain, a metapragmatic bound morpheme, the paper demonstrates how social media users assemble lexical, discursive, and other semiotic resources as means for negotiating sociopragmatic appropriateness. The analysis shows how the usage of words like mansplain encompass the sociolinguistic process of enregisterment through practices of linguistic reflexivity, creativity, and regimentation – practices that are essential aspects of interaction and participation in social media. Using these enregistered metapragmatic words problematizes imbalances in users’ sociopragmatic ideologies, namely who can or cannot say what, to whom, and in what manner. I show how creative metapragmatic language is deployed to discuss issues of entitlement and epistemic authority in communicative dynamics. I draw on theoretical frames that reveal how the recontextualization and resemiotization of -splain words and other metapragmatic neologisms are performances of identity. I also show how splain-mediated communication facilitates users in achieving their own discursive intentions to point out language in judgmental and/or lighthearted manners. I assert that attention to metapragmatic neologisms in the perspective of Citizen Sociolinguistics enhances the analytical repertoire of digital discourse analysis.