Abstract

The article presents the concept of ASMR from a general and a linguistic perspective. The definition of the notion and a review on the state of research is followed by a classification of ASMR triggers based on the senses which constitute the source of experiencing the ASMR effect. The author argues that touch and smell be included in the classification of the triggers. The linguistic analysis focuses on the following issues: the phonetic properties of the voice triggers, onomastics – a grammatical and conceptual study of the 17 classes of medionyms which were distinguished in the present research, and the ASMR discourse as the space where phatic and social functions are carried out on the part of ASMRtists as factors developing bonds within the ASMR community and where evaluative and persuasive functions are prominent in the comments of the recipients.