Clickbait as a Linguistic and Cultural Phenomenon (Based on Russian-, French-, and English-language Material)

Abstract

This article considers a specific type of headline that is common in modern mass media discourse, namely clickbait. The novelty of the research is in the object of study and the material represented in three languages – Russian, English and French. Clickbait as a phenomenon has not been investigated before, nor has its national and cultural specificity in the three analysed linguistic cultures; this fact determines the relevance of the study. The analysis of the language material was based on the hypothetical-deductive method, the continuous sampling method, and on stylistic and contextual analysis. The purpose of this work is to identify the content and stylistic characteristics of clickbait in the Russian -, English- and French-speaking information space. Initially, the English-language lexeme “clickbait” was borrowed into Russian and French, where it received additional nominations. In the Russian language, this word is almost assimilated as a language unit. The authors believe that clickbait is a type of a manipulative influence exerted on the mass audience, the essence of which is to attract and retain the recipient’s attention using false or dubious information. To this end, a variety of language and audio-visual tools are used that allow us to assign clickbait to a creolized text type. The authors believe that clickbait is a global phenomenon in the modern information space, whose national and cultural specificity is determined by a national “agenda.” The article is addressed to philologists, psychologists and sociologists. The research results may also be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students specializing in the Humanities.