REPRESENTATION OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR IN ENGLISH PUBLICISTIC DISCOURSE: LINGUOSTYLISTIC AND TRANSLATION ASPECTS
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
The article examines how English-language publicistic texts represent the Russian-Ukrainian war through lexical choice, metaphor, evaluation, narrative perspective and pragmatic framing. The study treats war journalism not only as a channel of information but also as a field where political meanings, ethical judgments and national identities are constantly negotiated. The analysis focuses on recurring naming patterns such as war, invasion, aggression, occupation, liberation, resistance and resilience; on metaphors that conceptualise Ukraine as a defending community and Russia as an aggressor; and on syntactic structures that may either clarify or blur agency. A separate part of the article discusses translation into Ukrainian. It is argued that Ukrainian translation should preserve factual precision, restore clear agency where English headlines compress responsibility, avoid uncritical transfer of euphemisms, and keep a balance between publicistic expressiveness and scholarly accuracy. The theoretical basis combines sociolinguistic views on language policy, language situation and linguistic landscape with discourse-oriented attention to public communication. The sources visible in the screenshots are used as the main bibliographic foundation, especially works on language policy, language situation, naming, linguistic landscapes and multilingual contexts. The article demonstrates that the translation of war discourse is not a mechanical replacement of words but a culturally responsible act of interpretation. A translator must understand both English media conventions and Ukrainian social sensitivity to occupation, state language, memory, trauma and security. The proposed observations may be useful for students of translation, journalists, editors and researchers of contemporary political discourse.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Russian-Ukrainian war; English-language publicistic texts; linguostylistics; media discourse; translation into Ukrainian; euphemism; metaphor; agency; language policy.
2. Csernicskó, I. (2013). Államok, nyelvek, államnyelvek: Nyelvpolitika a mai Kárpátalja területén (1867–2010) (States, languages, state languages: Language policy in the territory of present-day Transcarpathia). Gondolat Kiadó.
3. Csernicskó, I., & Melnyik, S. (2010). A nyelvpolitika fogalma (The concept of language policy). In C. Fedinec & M. Vehes (Eds.), Kárpátalja 1919–2009: Történelem, politika, kultúra (pp. 553–562). Argumentum; MTA Etnikai-nemzeti Kisebbségkutató Intézete.
4. Handzii, O. (2019). Pochav diіaty novyi pravopys (A new orthography came into force). Hazeta po-ukrainsky, 42(2206), 2. (in Ukrainian)
5. Kiss, J., & Pusztai, F. (Eds.). (2018). A magyar nyelvtörténet kézikönyve (Handbook of Hungarian language history). Tinta Könyvkiadó.
6. Laihonen, P. (2016). Beware of the dog! Private linguistic landscapes in two ‘Hungarian’ villages in South-West Slovakia. Language Policy, 15(4), 373–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10993-015-9358-y
7. Lajos, M. (2021). Névváltozások Kárpátalja: A Katalinoktól és Istvánoktól a Vanesszákig és Patrikokig (Name fashion development in Transcarpathia: From Katalins and Istváns to Vanesszas and Patriks). Kárpátalja, 1046, 10.
8. Márku, A. (2020, September 28). Édes-bús nosztalgia kárpátaljai Élőnyelvi Konferenciák jubileumain (Bittersweet nostalgia on the jubilee of the Hungarian Sociolinguistics Conferences in Transcarpathia). Hodinka Antal Nyelvészeti Kutatóközpont. http://hodinkaintezet. uz.ua/edes-bus-nosztalgia-karpataljai-elonyelvi-konferenciak-jubileumain/
9. Maiboroda, O., Shulha, M., Horbatenko, V., Azhniuk, B., Nahorna, L., Shapoval, Yu., Kotyhorenko, V., Panchuk, M., & Perevezii, V. (Eds.). (2008). Movna sytuatsiia v Ukraini: mizh konfliktom i konsensusom (The language situation in Ukraine: between conflict and consensus). Instytut politychnykh i etnonatsionalnykh doslidzhen imeni I. F. Kurasa NAN Ukrainy. (in Ukrainian)
10. Központi Statisztikai Hivatal. (n.d.). Központi Statisztikai Hivatal (Hungarian Central Statistical Office). Retrieved September 20, 2025, from http://www.ksh.hu/?lang=hu
11. Masenko, L. (1999). Mova i polityka (Language and politics). Soniashnyk. (in Ukrainian)
12. Spolsky, B. (Ed.). (2012). The Cambridge handbook of language policy. Cambridge University Press.
13. Tarkanii, H. (2011, March 25). Zakarpatska vidpovid ukrainskomu «movnomu pytanniu» (The Transcarpathian response to the Ukrainian “ language question” ). Zakarpattia onlain. https://zakarpattya.net.ua/News/80913-Zakarpatska-vidpovid-ukrainskomu-movnomu-pytanniu (in Ukrainian)
14. Zakon Ukrainy «Pro zabezpechennia funktsionuvannia ukrainskoi movy yak derzhavnoi» (Law of Ukraine “ On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” ), № 2704-VIII. (2019). Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy. https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/2704-19 (in Ukrainian)
15. Yatskiv, M. (2020). Frazemy na poznachennia movlennievoi ta myslenievoi diialnosti v khudozhnikh tvorakh Myroslava Dochyntsia (Phraseological units denoting speech and mental activity in the works of Myroslav Dochynets). Naukovyi visnyk Uzhhorodskoho universytetu. Seriia: Filolohiia, 43(1), 313–317. https://doi.org/10.24144/2663-6840.2020.1.(43).313-317 (in Ukrainian)
16. Zaliznyak, H., & Masenko, L. (2001). Movna sytuatsiia Kyieva: den sohhodnishnii ta pryideshhnii (The language situation in Kyiv: today and tomorrow). Vydavnychyi dim «KM Akademiia». (in Ukrainian)
17. Zaremba, O., & Rymarenko, S. (2008). Rol zovnishnikh chynnykiv u polityzatsii movnykh problem (The role of external factors in the politicisation of language problems). In O. Maiboroda et al. (Eds.), Movna sytuatsiia v Ukraini: mizh konfliktom i konsensusom (pp. 258–280). Instytut politychnykh i etnonatsionalnykh doslidzhen imeni I. F. Kurasa NAN Ukrainy. (in Ukrainian)