PRAGMATIC AND SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS IN SOCIAL MEDIA DISCOURSE

This article examines English abbreviations used in social media discourse, including LOL, IMO, BTW, OMG and IMHO, and their functional counterparts in Uzbek. A qualitative pragmatic and semantic approach is used to distinguish the meanings of the expanded expressions from the interpersonal and discourse functions of their shortened forms. The discussion identifies emotional and expressive uses, epistemic stance marking, discourse organisation and the expression of group affiliation. It also distinguishes direct borrowing from functional substitution through laughter representations, interjections and established Uzbek expressions. The analysis suggests that cross-linguistic correspondence is primarily functional and context-sensitive rather than a matter of matching abbreviated forms. Given the limited documentation of the material, the proposed classification is exploratory and does not establish the frequency or predominance of particular functions in Uzbek digital communication.