The Issue of Politically Correct Language in Mass and Social Media

Abstract

Introduction. In modern linguistic and translation studies and in the sphere of cross-culture communication, the issue of politically correct language is of great importance. Methods. Analysing lexical rules and speech codes, determining the transmission of the socially appropriate vocabulary used in mass and social media. Results. The analysis of the recent works on the specifics and peculiarities of the politically correct language as well as on the phenomenon of so-called Cancel Culture involves a lot of research in the field of the interaction concerning certain social groups and social issues. The article investigates the origin of the term “political correctness” and its development and transformation over time. It provides the cases of the term interpretation and gives numerous examples of currently inappropriate vocabulary followed by the preferable regarding political correctness ones. The article pays attention to the attitude to the problem in the modern world, and analyses the reasoning in favor and against the usage of politically correct language. A big part of the study is devoted to the abidance and violation of the rules of political correctness by journalists, politicians, and influential people on media and social networks. The article attempts to distinguish the notions of political correctness, censorship, and freedom of speech. It uses the texts of scientific and psychological research, newspaper articles, Facebook posts, tweets, and books published recently. Conclusions. Prospects for further research on the issue of politically correct language are proved.