Potential of Communicative Pragmatics in Study of Online Treasure Hunting Communities

This study investigates the textual content of two online treasure hunting groups from a communicative-pragmatic and socio-psycholinguistic perspective. It examines how specific linguistic features function within these texts, including polymodal text, semantically depleted language units, implicatures, and others. Fifty posts with accompanying images as well as ten video publications from participants' web pages were analyzed for each group representing Bashkortostan and Orenburg regions. The study introduces data on implicit meanings that are activated through both textual and polymodal communication means. Comparative analysis between the online communities of Bashkortostan and Orenburg is presented. Additionally, attention is given to speech activity theory, which allows us to consider audience-directed information based on the communicator's intention and their chosen methods — verbal or audiovisual — for presenting this information across social networks. In light of increased virtual interaction, the object of scientific inquiry becomes discursive text, influencing various perceptual channels among group members. The conclusion emphasizes that pragmatic strategies used by internet-based treasure hunting communities create certain behavioral models due to their reliance on pragmalinguistic tools.