LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF SPEECH ACTS IN ONLINE COMMUNICATION
Abstract
The rapid development of digital technologies and social media platforms has significantly transformed human communication, giving rise to new forms of discourse known as online or digital discourse. One of the most important aspects of online communication is the realization of speech acts, which function as fundamental units of interaction. This article explores the linguistic features of speech acts in online communication, focusing on how traditional speech act categories are adapted, transformed, or reinterpreted in digital environments. Using a qualitative discourse-analytical approach, the study examines examples from English-language online platforms such as social media comments, forums, and messaging applications. The findings reveal that online communication exhibits distinctive linguistic characteristics, including brevity, multimodality, indirectness, and pragmatic flexibility, which influence the performance and interpretation of speech acts. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of online discourse from a pragmatic and linguistic perspective.