Trends in development of Russian language lexicon in Internet communicative space

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to summarize the accumulated theoretical results in the field of language transformation of the digital age, to explain and emphasize the outlined trends of future language development in new technological conditions. The methodology for the elaboration of the scientific hypothesis was based on general scientific methods of observation of language functioning in Internet communication, the method of generalization of existing theoretical research in this scientific field, intuitive and logical forecasting of possible ways of language development. The material for identifying trends in language development was scientific publications, including the author's papers, about language use on the Internet. The author also employed scientific reflection on speech practices realised in the digital environment to substantiate the described trends. With the help of the study of lexical innovations in the Internet space, the author confirmed the hypothesis expressed in earlier works about the formation of a multimedia language code as the code most promising for the transmission of information in the digital environment. In addition, the author's contribution can be seen in raising overdue problems for the scientific community, such as the creation of media linguoecology. The main results of the study include the following conclusions about the transformation of the lexical system and prediction of future language development under the influence of Internet technologies. In the transformation of the lexical system of the digital age, the main role was played by the nominative and creative function of language. From the point of view of the theory of lacunarity, with the help of the actualisation of the nominative function, the lexical system was enriched with new lexemes and filled the existing lacunas in the language related to the naming of phenomena and things brought into our reality by new digital technologies. The creative function dominates the space of social networks and creates an Internet-usage that exerts direct pressure on the previously established literary norm. Multimedia signs, which have become the norm of informal Internet communication, have gained a firm foothold in the Internet-usage. Thus, the complex interaction of nominative and creative functions of language makes it possible to complicate the language and not only expand the lexical core, but also enrich the literary language as a whole, giving it the opportunity to respond to the new realities of the digital age.