Expressive Forms of Address in Russian and Spanish Network Discourse

The Internet space dictates new conditions of life and communication. The ability to use language on the Internet is becoming an integral part of our life. Interest in speech etiquette and the ability to use it has never waned. It reflects the national-cultural specificity of speech behaviour. Comparison of education and functioning of expressive forms of address in different languages, in particular, in Russian and Spanish, is of interest in terms of many psycholinguistic factors. The analysis of the use of expressive forms of address (EFA) in online Russian and Spanish discourse is dictated by the immeasurably increased popularity of these speech means for communication on the Internet. The article is focused on the function of EFAs in the Internet space and the methods of their formation; the frequency of use is analysed and an attempt is made to explain the appearance of some of them. Consideration is also given to the factors influencing the formation and functioning of EFAs in Russian and Spanish network discourse. The authors reviewed the literature on this issue, presented materials and described methods used in the study, identified psychological factors influencing the formation and functioning of expressive forms of address on the Internet, compiled a table of the frequency of their use in Spanish and made an attempt to explain the reason for the appearance of such forms.