Verbal markers of threat in public statements of the English-speaking segment of the social network Twitter

Abstract

The aim of the study is to establish a correlation between the intensity of a threat and the specific linguistic means expressing it in the social network Twitter (lexemes, distribution of lexemes, grammatical constructions). Threat as a regular phenomenon of Internet public pages is realised in the appropriate contextual conditions, it is endowed with a particular style and is actualised through recurrent grammatical constructions. Such conditions of threat actualisation make it possible to associate it with the speech strategy relevant in Internet discourse. The scientific novelty of the study is accounted for by considering the functions of markers of threat in the gradation of its intensity in the English-speaking segment of the social network Twitter. As a result of the study, it has been determined that the textual space of social networks has a high degree of implicitness, expressiveness and evaluativeness, verbal markers of threat occupy a special place in the textual space of social networks as key elements of comments and messages. The intensity of a threat can be determined through the linguistic means of its actualisation in a social context. The statements containing a threat themselves have the appropriate style and expression, are built according to the most typical grammatical constructions. The analysis of the latter allows us to talk about the credibility of the action predicted by the threat and the possibility of transition from the plane of Internet communication to the real world.