Digital lexical unit in the English-language virtual space as an indicator of social tension (a case study of protest socio-political movements)

The objective of this study is to describe the characteristics of the digital lexical unit as a fundamental unit of modern virtual communication, and as an indicator of social tension for the purpose of influencing and managing protest movements. The article substantiates the status of the digital lexical unit, which possesses a specific set of features, in the analysis of which the mobilization of communicators in connection with social and political tension is considered. The scholarly novelty of the study lies in the theoretical justification of the status and the comprehensive description of the digital lexical unit in digital protest communication. This study describes digital lexical units for the first time using English language data. As research material, digital lexical units are selected based on 21 protest campaigns in virtual space. The research results indicate that digital lexical units perform several key functions: communicative, compressive-informative, and persuasive. It is established that the English language, as a language of global interaction, plays a significant role in the formation of digital lexical units. The active use of digital lexical units in protest communication is demonstrated as an indicator of socio-political tension. Furthermore, it is revealed that digital lexical units possess not merely a persuasive, but a manipulative potential for external situation management.