Uncodified usage of capital/lowercase letters in mass communication texts

The article considers dynamic processes of modern Russian spelling associated with the use of capital/lowercase letters as graphic markers to differentiate language units as a part of a statement and beyond it. The theoretical bases of the research go back to the concept, which interprets spelling as a functional synchronous-diachronic, spontaneous-rational, conventional-reflective language continuation. The empirical basis is the publications in the Russian press, materials for the student corporate edition, reports on the sites of South Ural State University. In this material, the author identified 202 uncodified uses of capital/lowercase letters using the system-functional analysis method. In the course of the research, the author has established that orthographic oscillations influence: 1) spelling of onyms (administrative-territorial names and their derivatives, names of authorities, institutions, organizations, societies, positions and titles, holidays and social events, artifacts and natural objects); 2) spelling of common lexical units in a special stylistic use; 3) identification of structural text elements (homogeneous parts and direct speech, subheadings). Dynamics in the use of capital/lowercase letters is preconditioned by a number of factors: 1) authors use the capital letter to emphasize the significance of a relevant object of speech; 2) the spelling rule is sacrificed to the communicative norm when deviations from the spelling standard are connected with the addressee's interests; 3) speakers incorrectly transfer spelling features from generating words to derived lexical units; 4) some uncodified uses are connected with the existence of orthologic zones not reflected in dictionaries and reference books; 5) deviations from the spelling standard can be a consequence of the unification of similar spellings by analogy; 6) spelling of certain language units is determined not only by spelling codes but also by normative documents of extra-linguistic content. Dynamic processes in the sphere of using capital/lowercase letters are associated with the actualization of language antinomies: 1) normative ~ system; 2) normative ~ usual; 3) the signifier ~ the signified; 4) special ~ common; 5) the self ~ the other; 6) conventional ~ non-conventional; 7) expressive ~ appellative; 8) intra-linguistic ~ extra-linguistic. The idea of language antinomies makes it possible to obtain a holistic view of the regularities that determine the orthographic subsystem under consideration, to comprehend the specificity of its reflection in the native speakers' metalinguistic consciousness and to identify the implementation features in modern speech practice. According to the research, the correlation between what “should be” and what “exists” presents a heterogeneous unity. Its ontological side cannot be underestimated and needs further research to use the results in optimizing the codification system.

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