Russian invasion of Ukraine: analyzing linguistic means describing the enemy in Ukrainian media

Abstract The current study covers changes in the corpus of the Ukrainian language as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine which began on 24th February 2022. This research addresses the issue of rapidly changing worldviews and attitudes of the Ukrainian people, which have had a direct impact on the development of anti-aggressor narratives and an explosion of various linguistic means in the language when describing the war, the occupiers, and their atrocities committed on the territory of Ukraine. The period since the invasion is characterised by both a boom of neologisms and an expanding use of some lexical items in the mass media of Ukraine. The paper examines articles and news stories in two major Ukrainian information agencies Ukrinform and Unian since 24th February 2022 and their use of specific linguistic means to describe the enemy. The analysis and discussion of the new lexical items and the development of other linguistic means in the Ukrainian language are based on our findings as well as research publications which have appeared since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This research specifically explores how these linguistic means support war narratives in the Ukrainian media when describing the enemy and its actions. The portrayal of the enemy is increasingly pivotal in these narratives, which bolster the Ukrainian people’s fight for survival and territorial integrity.