PECULIARITIES OF THE MICROFIELD “HOSTILE TROOPS” IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE ASSOCIATIVE-SEMANTIC FIELD “ENEMY” (based on the discourse of the Russian-Ukrainian information war)

Abstract

Introduction. The era of the information wars requires in-depth study of its discourse. A wide range of recipient’s emotions that can be evoked by certain lexemes makes language an essential tool in the fight for people’s consciousness while conducting information campaigns that accompany armed conflicts.
Purpose. The paper aims at analyzing the structure of the associative-semantic field “hostile troops” in the discourse of the Russian-Ukrainian information war.
Methods. The research is grounded on the following applied methods: the method of associative linguistic observation (emotional-expressive and figurative-sensual components of the semantics of the studied lexemes are revealed by means of it), associative-semantic modelling
(associative-semantic fields, microfields and groups are systematized and classified).
Results. As a result of the analysis, the structure of the associative-semantic microfield of the “hostile troops” has been modelled, within which eight groups (ASG) have been allocated. The main groups are: 1) terminolexemes with a component indicating Russia’s involvement in the Donbas conflict (Russian troops, armed forces of the Russian Federation); 2) names with “Putin”, “putinskyi” components that are synonymous with the concept of “Russia” (Putin’s terrorists); 3) metonymic names that associatively indicate the presence of troops of another state
(foreigners, invaders); 4) terms without reference to the Russian trace, which are characteristic
of the initial stage of the conflict, when the fact of Russian aggression has not yet been recognized by Ukrainian legislation (militants, separatists), etc.
Conclusion. Thus, the terminology used by the Ukrainian society is an important means for understanding the information referring to the war discourse, as it specifies and transforms in the language not only the armed aggression, but also the sense of hostile aggression. The study
of terminolexemes is topical because it enables to form the linguistic identifiers of the war period and follow the psycholinguistic reactions of the society to the front line news.