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<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="1.2" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies</journal-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Российские социогуманитарные исследования</trans-title></trans-title-group></journal-title-group><issn publication-format="electronic">3033-5981</issn><publisher><publisher-name xml:lang="en">Science and Innovation Center Publishing House</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">492982</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.12731/3033-5981-2026-18-3-614</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="edn">QLXDKK</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="en"><subject>Applied Aspects of Linguistics</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="ru"><subject>Прикладные аспекты лингвистики</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="article-type"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title xml:lang="en">Functions of the semicolon in British news media</article-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Точка с запятой в британских новостных СМИ</trans-title></trans-title-group></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7461-3270</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="scopus">57191969495</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="researcherid">E-4878-2015</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="spin">2001-0370</contrib-id><name-alternatives><name xml:lang="en"><surname>Amirkhanova</surname><given-names>Karina M.</given-names></name><name xml:lang="ru"><surname>Амирханова</surname><given-names>Карина Муратовна</given-names></name></name-alternatives><address><country country="RU">Russian Federation</country></address><bio xml:lang="ru"><p>старший преподаватель кафедры европейских языков и культур</p> <p> </p></bio><bio xml:lang="en"><p>Senior Lecturer, Department of European Languages and Cultures</p> <p> </p></bio><email>carrie11@yandex.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9642-3803</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="scopus">57142169300</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="researcherid">O-4587-2016</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="spin">1211-5779</contrib-id><name-alternatives><name xml:lang="en"><surname>Zorina</surname><given-names>Anna V.</given-names></name><name xml:lang="ru"><surname>Зорина</surname><given-names>Анна Викторовна</given-names></name></name-alternatives><address><country country="RU">Russian Federation</country></address><bio xml:lang="ru"><p>кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры европейских языков и культур</p> <p> </p></bio><bio xml:lang="en"><p>Candidate of Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Department of European Languages and Cultures</p> <p> </p></bio><email>azorina@mail.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/></contrib></contrib-group><aff-alternatives id="aff1"><aff><institution xml:lang="en">Kazan Federal (Volga Region) University</institution></aff><aff><institution xml:lang="ru">Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет</institution></aff></aff-alternatives><content-language>en</content-language><pub-date date-type="preprint" publication-format="electronic" iso-8601-date="2026-09-30"><day>30</day><month>09</month><year>2026</year></pub-date><pub-date date-type="pub" publication-format="electronic" iso-8601-date="2026-09-30"><day>30</day><month>09</month><year>2026</year></pub-date><pub-date date-type="collection"><year>2026</year></pub-date><volume>18</volume><issue>3</issue><issue-title xml:lang="ru"/><fpage>306</fpage><lpage>320</lpage><history><date date-type="received" iso-8601-date="2026-07-03"><day>03</day><month>07</month><year>2026</year></date><date date-type="accepted" iso-8601-date="2025-08-16"><day>16</day><month>08</month><year>2025</year></date></history><pub-history><event event-type="received"><event-desc>Received:<date date-type="received" iso-8601-date="2026-07-03"><day>03</day><month>07</month><year>2026</year></date></event-desc></event><event event-type="accepted"><event-desc>Accepted:<date date-type="accepted" iso-8601-date="2025-08-16"><day>16</day><month>08</month><year>2025</year></date></event-desc></event><event event-type="pub"><event-desc>Published:<pub-date date-type="pub" publication-format="electronic" iso-8601-date="2026-09-30"><day>30</day><month>09</month><year>2026</year></pub-date></event-desc></event></pub-history><permissions><copyright-statement xml:lang="en">Copyright ©; 2026, K.M. Amirkhanova, A.V. Zorina</copyright-statement><copyright-statement xml:lang="ru">Copyright ©; 2026, К.М. Амирханова, А.В. Зорина</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2026</copyright-year><copyright-holder xml:lang="en">K.M. Amirkhanova, A.V. Zorina</copyright-holder><copyright-holder xml:lang="ru">К.М. Амирханова, А.В. Зорина</copyright-holder><ali:free_to_read xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"/><license><ali:license_ref xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0</ali:license_ref></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://journals.rcsi.science/2077-1770/article/view/492982">https://journals.rcsi.science/2077-1770/article/view/492982</self-uri><self-uri content-type="application/pdf" xlink:href="492982/492982-1277009-1-SM.pdf" xlink:title="PDF" xml:lang="en">492982/492982-1277009-1-SM.pdf</self-uri><abstract xml:lang="en"><p>Background. The article focuses on the functions of the semicolon in British news media discourse. Being a part of the written standard, a tool to give sense to writing, punctuation must be considered a very important set of norms of usage. Still, the semicolon, which is considered to be a relatively “young” punctuation mark, is one of the most misused punctuation marks in modern English. The semicolons were examined from the perspective of standard norms of punctuation usage. The study provides an overview of both standard uses and cases of standard deviation.</p> <p>Purpose. The purpose of this study is to examine specific features of the use of the semicolon in British news media discourse.</p> <p>Materials and methods. The study reveals the findings of a detailed analysis of the use of semicolons in The Guardian articles. It involved сommunicative-pragmatic text analysis, partial sampling, and comparative description.</p> <p>Results. The results show that the most common function of semicolon is joining parts of the sentence; cases of separating and contrasting functions are not frequent. The findings reveal a difference in the use of the semicolon in various parts of the newspaper and genres of articles. Due to the fact that news media discourse serves an expressive purpose as well, semicolons can help express irony, cause indignation or shock. The article is an attempt to reveal tendencies in modern news media discourse in the usage of the semicolon.</p></abstract><trans-abstract xml:lang="ru"><p>Обоснование. Статья посвящена функциям точки с запятой в британском новостном медийном дискурсе. Будучи частью письменного стандарта, инструментом для придания смысла написанному, пунктуация должна считаться очень важным набором норм употребления. Такой пунктуационный знак, как точка с запятой, является одним из наиболее часто неправильно используемых знаков препинания в современном английском языке. Случаи употребления точки с запятой были рассмотрены с точки зрения стандартных правил. Исследование дает обзор как стандартных случаев использования, так и случаев стандартного отклонения.</p> <p>Цель. Данное исследование выявляет особенности функционирования точки с запятой в британском новостном медийном дискурсе.</p> <p>Материалы и методы. В качестве материалов исследования были выбраны английские тексты газеты The Guardian. В исследовании применялись методы коммуникативно-прагматического анализ анализа, прием частичной выборки, описательный метод.</p> <p>Результаты. Наиболее распространенной функцией точки с запятой является соединение частей предложения, случаи разделительной и контрастной функции нечасты. Результаты показывают разницу в использовании точки с запятой в различных газетных рубриках и жанрах статей. В связи с тем, что новостные медиатексты и медиадискурс также служат экспрессивной цели, точка с запятой может помочь выразить иронию, вызвать у читателя возмущение или шок. Статья представляет собой попытку выявить тенденции в современном новостном медиадискурсе в использовании точки с запятой.</p></trans-abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><kwd>semicolon</kwd><kwd>punctuation</kwd><kwd>news media discourse</kwd><kwd>punctuation marks</kwd><kwd>English language</kwd><kwd>functions of punctuation marks</kwd><kwd>genre</kwd><kwd>news articles</kwd></kwd-group><kwd-group xml:lang="ru"><kwd>точка с запятой</kwd><kwd>пунктуация</kwd><kwd>новостной медиадискурс</kwd><kwd>знаки препинания</kwd><kwd>английский язык</kwd><kwd>функции знаков препинания</kwd><kwd>жанр</kwd><kwd>новостные статьи</kwd></kwd-group><funding-group/></article-meta></front><body></body><back><ref-list><ref id="B1"><label>1.</label><citation-alternatives><mixed-citation xml:lang="en">Aleksandrova, O. V. (2009). 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