Media Manipulation: Linguistic Parameterization through Digital Technologies

This study investigates the linguistic parameters of media manipulation within the Kazakhstani media discourse, utilizing digital technologies. It addresses issues of covert psychological and informational influence in mass media. The complexity of the media manipulation phenomenon is highlighted, particularly its implicitness and obscured content. The research draws upon a corpus of 1,673 Russian-language media texts sourced from Kazakhstani online publications. Employing methods from corpus linguistics and descriptive linguistics, alongside discourse analysis techniques, the study establishes that the manipulative effect is generated through a combination of linguistic parameters that systematically enact hidden influence on the recipient. A classification of the identified linguistic parameters is proposed. The primary criteria for recognizing manipulative texts are suggested to be the frequency and contextual functioning of linguistic units with manipulative potential. The analysis utilized thematic dictionaries and algorithms to capture the most typical lexical, graphical, and grammatical features of manipulativeness. It is reported that fourteen thematic dictionaries were developed, encompassing lexical units with manipulative potential, including a dictionary of negative lexicon, a dictionary of colloquial and jargon language, a dictionary of invective lexicon, a dictionary of generalizers (pronouns), and a dictionary of intensifiers (amplifying words), among others.

media manipulation, media discourse, corpus linguistics, Russian-language Kazakhstani media