Discursive communication practices in conditions of social distancing (a look through the prism of the German Language)

The focus of this article is a research of the discursive practices of modern communication in the German-speaking cultural space in the context of social distancing based on the study of their linguistic manifestation through new words and phrases. As a result of the study, the general features of modern communication affecting all types of discourse during the coronavirus pandemic are identified and the types of discourse are defined, which are characterized by the most significant modifications as a consequence of changes in society under conditions of social isolation. These include: virtualization of communication, the rapid spread and development of virtual discourse, the main medium of which is the Internet environment, using an electronic data transmission channel; digitalization of education, accelerating the process of introducing a model of a digital educational environment, transferring educational discourse to a distance format, teaching using distance educational technologies; “New normal” of communication in public places - communication in a mask, which complicates interpersonal interaction, leads to the limitation of social contacts. The article describes the features of the semantics and pragmatics of neologisms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which serve as markers of the discursive practices of modern communication. It is noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has formed a special type of communicative personality, determined by the peculiarities of the discursive practices of modern communication in conditions of social distancing: homo isolatus (a person in social isolation), homo digitalis (digital person) and homo non vitalis (a person deprived of vital energy). Thus, in this study, general and specific issues of the linguistics of distancing are developed, such as the linguistic interpretation of the phenomenon of social distance and evolutionary processes in vocabulary, which are significant for the general dynamics of the lexical system of language and discursive practices.

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