Linguistic means of dehumanisation of the enemy in the discourse of the armed conflict in Ukraine

Abstract

(en) This paper considers linguistic means of inciting hostility during the Russian–Ukrainian armed conflict (in particular, the annexation of Crimea and military operations in the Donbas). Coverage of military operations in the media and social networks is an important component of infowar; well-chosen words in news reports help to mobilise society to fight against the enemy. In the process of analysing Russian and Ukrainian military discourses, 301 language tools (words and expressions) with a dehumanising effect were identified. The studied set of words is grouped into three categories: 1) vocabulary with semantics of full and partial dehumanisation; 2) language means of demonisation; 3) euphemisms of dehumanising content with an entertaining connotation. Such words are used to achieve the effect of depopulation, to encourage society to stop seeing the enemy as human; thus, they are means of inciting hostility. These language units are used mainly in the plural or as collective nouns. The names are often based on metonymic and metaphorical hyphenations that equate with animals, plants, or objects, and their death with ordinary everyday events.