SEMANTIC COLOURING OF THE WAR TERMINOLOGY IN THE EUROPEAN MASS MEDIA (Based on English, German, and Ukrainian Languages)

Abstract

Research into the semantic field of ‘war’ is one of the current focuses of modern linguistics, due to its central importance in today's Ukrainian and global linguistic space, its influence on social consciousness, and the need for a deeper understanding of how language shapes our perception of war. Russia's war against Ukraine has made the term ‘war’ one of the key concepts in current public discourse. This word is actively used in the media, in political speeches, in fiction and in everyday language, thus shaping a certain worldview. 
The war in Ukraine is an impetus for the creation of certain semantic units to describe new phenomena. The widespread media coverage of events in Ukraine in the mass media, both within the country and abroad, requires particularly careful use of war terminology in order to avoid misinterpretations of events and phenomena. It is therefore important not only to specify Ukrainian terminology for describing war phenomena, but also to compare it with existing terms in other languages.
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine triggered the creation and use of certain semantic units that carry a negative connotation, are used in specific contexts, and reflect the international community's extremely negative attitude towards the aggressor's actions. In the future, further research in this area will examine the emergence and development of semantic units during the war in Ukraine.