Karataeva M. Semiotics of Virtual Communication (based on the modern English language).

The thesis investigates semiotic peculiarities of virtual communication of international companies. The expansive influence of the Internet and rapid developments in communication technologies have altered the ways people communicate, acquire knowledge and exchange information in modern world. The paper focuses on investigation of contemporary English virtual discourse that is characterized by ubiquity, accessibility, anonymity, digitalization, hypertextuality, multimodality, visualization, creativity, and convergence of verbal and other semiotic forms, which create a joint message to the recipient. Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of how the Internet, digital technologies and convergence have contributed to the transformation of communication and remediation of print-based content into electronic form. It explores the main approaches to the phenomenon of discourse, peculiarities and constitutive features of virtual discourse, characteristics of Internet writing and emergence of new genres of virtual communication in the 21st century.