Paralinguistic means of manipulative influence on the voter as exemplified by Dmitry Medvedev’s Telegram Channel

Abstract

The article gives a general characteristic of polycode messengers, which represent an information space that connects different elements of the political system and creates conditions for continuous political communication. Communication through genre 2.0 formats becomes a means of manipulating mass consciousness through these information channels. The need for the analysis of polycode messengers is conditioned by their growing popularity as an arena of political struggle in the modern Russian-speaking information space.Special attention is paid to Telegram messenger due to the convenience of receiving and distributing information instantly, compressed form of delivery and possibility to interact with other voters on that platform.The objective of the study is to present and analyze the impact made on the addressee-actor within the information market of instant messaging service Telegram, to systematize and analyze the polycode media of written communication.An important factor in this context is the polycode organization of the information presented. The role of paralinguistic means of influencing the electorate is assessed based on Dmitry Medvedev’s official Telegram channel.The research material was based on the posts in the official Telegram channel in the period from March 18, 2022 to December 12, 2022 (193 postings).The main method of research is qualitative content analysis, which analyzes the paragraphematic means of written communication − the presentation of the text material and its graphic design, the text accompaniment by such non-verbal components as emoji. The article contains the description of the main paralinguistic means of communication which are based on the variability of the published material volume, typographic variations, upper case, quotation marks, list serve and emoji usage. The functions that emoji language performs in combination with a stand-alone verbal component are described.