Digital Pragmatics and Meaning-Making in Online Communication: Rethinking Context, Intent, and Interpretation

Abstract

The expansion of digitally mediated communication has significantly transformed how meaning is constructed, negotiated, and interpreted. This paper argues that classical pragmatic frameworks, largely developed for face-to-face interaction, are insufficient for explaining communication in contemporary digital environments such as WhatsApp, X, and TikTok. Drawing on digital discourse studies and pragmatic theory, the paper reconceptualises context, speaker intention, and interpretation as dynamic, multimodal, and technologically mediated processes. Using illustrative examples from Nigerian and global online interactions, it demonstrates how emojis, memes, silence, and algorithmic systems function as pragmatic resources. The paper proposes an integrative model of digital pragmatics that foregrounds platform affordances, sociocultural knowledge, and distributed audiences. The study contributes to ongoing debates in pragmatics, digital linguistics, and language pedagogy by offering a framework for understanding meaning-making in digitally networked communication.