Shaping values with “YouTube freedoms”: linguistic representation and axiological charge of the popular science IT-discourse

Drawing on the studies of linguistics, axiology and discourse analysis, this paper contributes to the linguistic framework of value-based communication studies by establishing the algorithm of shaping values in popular science IT discourse via the set of linguo-axiological methods. The authors' aims include establishing dominating communicative strategies employed by the authors of the texts; identifying language structures and lexical means responsible for the both explicit and implicit formation and verbalization of certain values represented in the texts about YouTube; organizing the identified values into a system as presented by the authors of the texts. The paper uncovers dominant YouTube text characteristics, focusing on the instrumental role of values this type of discourse represents, and implements a complex methodological set (CDA and linguo-axiological analysis) in order to outline three basic communicative strategies that the authors of the texts employ: the information strategy; the instruction strategy; the evaluation strategy. The conducted research reveals that the texts of mass media about YouTube contain the following values, classified by the authors into three axiological groups: relevance (approval, authenticity, entertainment, fame, influence, popularity); relationship (accessibility, connection, feedback, relatability); profession (career, competitiveness, money, promotion, time). The results of the study include theoretical conclusions about how the modern-day discourse of information technology (IT-discourse) reflects both fundamental and profession-specific human values, thus shaping the way addressees perceive the industry through language. These findings make it possible to form a new type of IT-discourse text architecture, which would take into account the pragmatic-axiological charge necessary to shape and divert the set of addressees’ values. © 2019 The Authors