ФУНКЦИИ ПАРАГРАФЕМНЫХ СРЕДСТВ В ИНТЕРНЕТЕ

Non-verbal tools of communications on the Internet are classified into three groups. The first group is graphic tools: fonts, text highlight colour, letter-spacing, underlined text, strikethrough text, use of special characters and symbols, numbers, unusual wording, punctuation marks or mathematical symbols and icons. The second group is illustrations (photos, collages, drawings, charges, flowcharts, diagrams, caricatures, memes, demotivators, etc.). With their independent status, images can play a role of self-sufficient pieces of work that do not need any verbal component. The third group is spatial composition techniques used to organise the area of a page: separating lines, boxes, colour background, margin widths and word line lengths. The role of paragraphemic tools used in the Internet discourse will be examined in this paper.

Three main functions attributed to paragraphemics and covering all of the above groups of non-verbal elements on the Internet are connective, excretory and separating [Anisimova: 2003, Lazareva: 2010]. However paragraphemic tools have started playing new roles that will be examined below.

Firstly, graphic tools, illustrations and spatial composition techniques make information easier to interpret and mitigate the risk of communication conflict. Paragraphemic tools contribute to strengthening the Internet’s friendly relationship with a human being. Spatial composition techniques, graphic tools and illustrations create image of an Internet page, make it expressive, rich, attractive and, most importantly, understandable to a targeted audience. It is due to paragraphemic tools that users distinguish between primary and secondary information, understand the message status (advertisement, breaking news, announcement, playbill, trailer, section heading, title, etc.) and go after data scores by author or other Web users. Graphic tools help to complete the start and end of a verbal message, allow the author to emphasise his message in a vast information flow. Spatial composition techniques are extremely important (e.g., underlined text, boxes and colour in advertising that often takes a permanent place on the Internet page will show the role of the message and stress its advertising nature). Boxes become essential to create an independent information block on the Internet. Emphasising the descriptive part as a column, page or zone using not only colour, but also separating lines is essential for the structure and composition of Web message space.

All these admitted to strengthening the Internet’s friendly relationship with a human being, comfortable atmosphere intentionally created for users, need for being attentive and careful about a person working on the Web and influence on his brain and emotions [Gorina: 2013]. For example, illustrations as a design, non-verbal tool to communicate the Internet data in different variants both help to communicate information more expressively and easily on the Internet and redouble user’s attention and make him focus on interpreting the author’s idea, understanding the subtext, comparison with other texts, etc. Illustrations are one of the strong and convenient methods of influence on user’s emotions.

Secondly, paragraphemic tools ensure that information is communicated in different variants on various Websites (e.g., news about Suzuki off-road vehicle is communicated as an advertisement on search software pages, as a piece of news on the city portal, as a game on social networking sites and as a separate article on the Japanese car producer’s website). Each variant of information is communicated with different paragraphemic tools. Every excretory, separating tool is a method to communicate information in different variants or create variant information on the Web. Variant Internet pages, websites and messages arise from using different spatial composition techniques, graphic tools and illustrations (variant mass media, forums, portals, websites, projects, chats, social networking sites, etc.). This is how paragraphemic tools participate in the formation of a conceptual feature of the Internet discourse – its variant nature [Gorina: 2014].

Thirdly, paragraphemics makes the Internet users active. Drawings, marks, colour, various symbols, icons, etc. – all of them prove to be significant offering something to user. Icons of social networks are a signal that re-post is possible. Due to the Facebook sign a message from the city portal goes to the social network news bulletin attracting the attention of a new audience. Moreover, re-post is often accompanied by personal comments, users’ scores and therefore extends the number of variants and targets at certain audience. The fact that user can leave comments or illustrate messages is also communicated through paragraphemic tools. ‘Photo camera’, ‘video camera’, ‘smile’, ‘thumb up’ icons, etc. are signals that message can be dealt with by various methods. Graphic and text scoring tools encourage duplication of both information and Web users’ attitude to it. This is how paragraphemic tools participate in the formation of another conceptual feature of the Internet discourse – interactivity [Gorina: 2014]. Users are involved in message development process on the Web, in messages transformation and dissemination.

Fourthly, graphic tools don’t always become only a signal of additional functions of a web page. They are an esthetic instrument and decoration of information (e.g., pictures for street traffic reports, weather forecasts or currency exchange rates do not give any stronger message, but soften the dry style of writing and dilute the message neutral language). Pictures of cloud, sun, part of traffic light are decorations of facts describing weather or traffic jams. They are esthetic eye-stoppers and a signal for users that the Internet is favourable to them, the Web is friendly and positive.

Fifthly, it is worth saying that paragraphemic tools play a crucial role in triggering emotional responses that are insufficient when indirectly communicating on the Internet. The primary goal of graphic tools (letter-spacing, underlined text, strikethrough text, smiles, etc.) is to communicate author’s emotions, preserve the tone of speech in mind and emphasise the shades of senses. Besides, paragraphemic tools can be a substitute for words and reduce the amount of information while preserving its emotional component. It is quicker and easier to communicate graphic signs «:-)))?» – «:-((((» instead of verbal explanations.
The first sign demonstrating smile says “Hello” and asks a ritualistic question “How are you?” The sign used as an answer points to a bad mood of the conversation partner. Such communication when graphics is a substitute for words and mathematical symbols or punctuation marks re-create speakers’ emotions is ordinary for the Internet [Paulsen: 2014]. For example, star (*) is actively used to show censored places in statements. The number of stars usually equals the number of missing letters: “We are for cens**ship”.

A special graphic tool for messages is the so called ‘Albanian language’ when words are misspelled as they are pronounced: “Didnt getfru – tu meni letas” (this is how a boring message is criticised), “LOL” (approval of a joke), etc. Symbols borrowed from other languages are variant graphic tools and techniques of transliteration, graphemization and strengthening of emotional responses to messages [Paulsen: 2014]. Groups of English-letter abbreviations are normally used to express certain meanings disseminated on the RuNet.

English symbols are often involved in a graphical game when some syllables are replaced with numbers alike in sound. For example, the phrase widely spread on the RuNet “2gether 4rever” is actually equivalent to “together forever”. Syllables “to” and “fo” are pronounced as alike as numbers “2” (two) and “4” (four). The palette of Russian abbreviations is not as diverse as that of the English ones and most of them are expanded given the context: MB – maybe, NAA – not at all, 10Q – thank you, ILY – I love you, PLS – please. Words are sometimes abbreviated phonetically, i.e. users try to write the word as they hear it: Nechrali – naturally, Onli – only, Ofkos – of course.

On the one hand, such abbreviations facilitate and accelerate the communication process, but on the other, they certainly make the Web language primitive and require greater efforts from the uninitiated user to understand the information. Internet literacy is respected, but goes to the background. Creativity, compliance with Internet communication and speed of response become of primary importance. It does not make any sense for the user to spend much time for precise punctuation or spelling because Web communications based on transliteration or graphemization are, firstly, often entertaining, so they do not require ideal literacy from communicators and, secondly, the underlying cause for transliteration or graphemization could be the inconvenience of a keyboard adapted for the Russian language. Anyway, whatever the reasons for misspelling, Internet literacy is not a mandatory requirement. Moreover, a lack of transliteration, Caps Lock, graphemization and smiles may cause miscommunication / communication conflict for younger generation of the Internet users. This reflects the latest comments about the full stop at the end of a sentence, which young Internet users interpret as an aggression sign. The full stop means the final conclusion and refusal from further discussion / prohibition of a dialogue. If the full stop is placed at the end of a sentence, it means the conversation is over and the author has made a decision without giving any prior notice. Such new meanings of graphical tools are the evidence that users are aware of need for higher emotional communication.

Paragraphemic tools solve different problems on the Internet and the extending palette of paragraphemic signs is the evidence that their role is still extremely large for Web communication.