Epistemic stance in Ukrainian newspaper discourse on migration and refugees: Ukrainian versus European perspectives

The realization of epistemic stance in newspaper discourse coincides with the verbalization of modality through linguistic means, which together constitute the modal metatext that explicates the stance of the speaker (author, writer, observer, viewer) as a recipient-mediator between the represented reality and the reader /listener. The establishment of key discourse modals enables the revelation of the ideology behind the text, as well as the image of migrants constructed in Ukrainian media and imposed on the newspaper readership. The analysis has proven that migrants are stereotypically portrayed as “vulnerable outsiders” who can be used as hybrid weapons to cause instability and chaos. However, refugees from Ukraine are often viewed as an economic asset to EU states, enhancing productivity due to the gender and age structure of the influx population. On the contrary, an outflow of young people brings about a negative context in terms of nation identity and the demographic composition of Ukraine’s population.