On expanding the research opportunities of the hashtag as a media discourse phenomenon

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to expand the understanding of the research potential on the hashtag. The author departs from the traditional understanding of the hashtag as a mechanism for structuring information flows in social networks and considers this phenomenon as the key to the study of the relation between language and consciousness under the conditions of the modern media space. In this work, the author adheres to the paradigm of media linguistic research where language is considered to be a cognitive mechanism, and the relationship between language and media is studied from the point of view of their impact on the conceptualization of reality. From the point of view of cognitive semantics, a hashtag can be described as a quantum of content obtained as a result of semantic compression of the content of a publication done by a sender. At the same time, a hashtag is able to set the model of interpretation of the marked message, that indicates its manipulative potential. The article demonstrates the possibilities of combining linguistic analysis of a hashtag, including cognitive semantics methods, with the application of automated monitoring technologies of social networks based on processing Big Data. According to the author, such a combination opens up new possibilities for the research into the relationship between language and consciousness, including the study of the network nature of collective cognitive space. At the same time, the author points out that the algorithms of working with hashtags in solving various problems related to the research of the conceptual sphere of the modern media space require a deeper development involving not only linguists but also specialists in the field of information technologies, communication theory, sociology, neuroscience and etc.