EUPHEMISMS IN THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY SOCIOLECT: SEMANTIC, STYLISTIC AND PRAGMATIC DIMENSIONS OF WARTIME DISCOURSE

Abstract

The lexical system of any language evolves under the influence of various extralinguistic factors, including the dynamics of social development, communicative demands, and the cognitive and cultural characteristics of its speakers. An important problem of modern linguistics is the study of the directions of evolution of the lexical subsystem under conditions of social and political stress. The war, as an extreme communicative situation, has intensified processes of linguistic renewal, particularly euphemization, which this study identifies as a salient feature of the contemporary Ukrainian military sociolect. It is this lexical layer, which reflects the reactions of society to the traumatic reality, that is chosen as the subject of the study. The method of theoretical analysis (to outline the nature and functions of euphemization), methods of systematization and classification (to group euphemisms by structural and semantic features), as well as the interpretive method (to identify semantic shifts and stylistic functions of the studied units) are used in the work. Depending on the semantic and stylistic parameters and the type of connection with the euphemized lexeme, the following groups are distinguished: witty expressions without a direct semantic connection but with a bright emotional connotation (бавовна, аналоговнєт, затридні); metaphorized commonly used lexemes (дискотека, пташка); lexemes derived from the names of movie characters (кіборги, аватар, орки); conventional markers of military slang (мінусувати, нуль, піксель); derivatives of proper names (джевелінити, чорнобаїти, макронити); phraseological constructions or reinterpreted expressions (клеїти шольца, привид Києва, бандерівське смузі); words formed by contamination of two lexemes (русня, рашисти, путлер); lexemes based on borrowed morphemes with a neutralized emotional charge (сепари, мультик). The generalization of the research results allows us to assert that the euphemization of the Ukrainian military sociolect is the evidence of the inner strength, dignity and linguistic creativity of the Ukrainian society. The rejection of vocabulary with excessively negative connotations in favor of ironic, neutral or humorous nominations plays an important role in the formation of a stable psycholinguistic reaction to aggressive reality. A significant part of the newly created words is already penetrating other European languages, representing the Ukrainian linguistic vision of war in the global communication space and expanding the creative potential of the military sociolects of these languages.