Metaphorical Use of Verbs Denoting Physical Action in Internet Communication and Its Functioning in the Speech of RFL Learners

This thesis presents a deeper dive into the nature of figurative use of Russian action verbs and their functioning as part of the Internet communication. With exponential growth of Internet use sustaining through the years, new actions are constantly becoming available to people online. Given that numerous actions performed on the Internet are new to people (at least, partially), the need for proper names has arisen. The names chosen for said actions, however, are not always strictly unique to the Internet communication domain. Rather they are formed via one of the more interesting linguistic phenomena, that is metaphor. The examples of words, in the semantics of which lies a metaphor were thoroughly analyzed. The verbs were stripped to their original meaning, looked into from the viewpoint of syntax, and considered as metaphors to pinpoint what kind of figurative meaning is incorporated in these words as they appear in Internet communication. Another major point considered in this work is the link between the Russian and Azerbaijani language of the Internet. Key words: figurative use, RFL, metaphor, Internet discourse.