Trends in the development of the language of digital diplomacy in mediapolitical discourse

The article uncovers peculiarities of the Russian digital diplomacy's language in the manner it finds its way in a modern mediapolitical discourse. It deals with the matter from the standpoint of means and mechanisms of discoursive influence on the potential target audience. The analysis is based on the 2016 Facebook posts of Mrs. V. Zakharova, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the II class and the Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It encompassed such parameters of mediapolitical communication as the dominant psycholinguistic scenarios, compliance with the principle of politeness in verbal communication, tone of communication predetermined by the intended audience, status and communicative relationship. It depicts the main features of «digital diplomacy» and new media, ethical and verbal aspects of communicative behavior of «political power» representatives in modern media. The study is based on the theory of dominant scenarios by A. A. Kotov and these psycholinguistic scenarios are identified in media communication of Mrs. Zakharova. The scenario «Emotional» appears to be the most typical for her, since Mrs. Zakharova intentionally presents various topics of discussion in an emotional way aiming to raise certain feelings in the target audience. On the other hand such characteristics as «danger», «subjectivity», «inadequacy», «inconsistency», «deception» are often identified in the behavior of an «aggressor», most often the USA. At the same time Mrs. Zakharova's texts also follow certain positive dominant scenarios. For example, the scenario «appeal to values» allows invoke traditional human values: peace, security, trust, etc. in her appeals to the potential audience, including media representatives (both Russian and foreign) as well as private individuals. Frequently a declarative appeal is accompanied by a disturbance factors, which reduce the communicative distance between participants and approximates their social status. The analysis further revels tendencies of violations of communicative and ethical norms in communicative verbal behavior in this type of mediapolitical discourse (specifically the principles of cooperation and politeness). The «sender» actively uses «trolling» tactics of communication, which in a certain way indicates possible consolidation of a new norm in digital diplomacy and other areas of mass communication.