Nomination and Conceptualization of the Concepts “Nation” and “People” in the Official Media Texts of Russia and China

Amid the global transformation of political discourse and growing ideological polarization, linguistic tools employed by states to construct the images of the nation and the people have gained particular importance. This study examines the linguistic mechanisms of nomination and conceptualization of the concepts “nation” and “people” in the official media discourse of Russia and China. The object of analysis is institutional media texts that embody discursive strategies aimed at shaping national identity, legitimizing authority, and achieving symbolic mobilization. The author investigates the linguistic representation of key ethnopolitical categories, analyzing their semantic structures and pragmatic-discursive functions. Particular attention is paid to frequency of use, contextual application, ideological implications, and cultural specificity of the lexemes “nation” and “people” in political speeches, official statements, and state media publications. The methodology combines content analysis, conceptual analysis within cognitive linguistics, and elements of discourse-pragmatic approaches. Quantitative methods such as frequency counts, collocation analysis, and contextual modeling are integrated with qualitative semantic interpretation to offer a comprehensive perspective. The scientific novelty of this study lies in its comparative cognitive-discursive analysis of the concepts “nation” and “people” in Russian and Chinese official media texts. For the first time, differences in lexical-semantic and pragmatic strategies have been systematically identified, along with the ideological functions these concepts fulfill in political communication. The study shows that Russian discourse emphasizes historical unity and continuity, while Chinese discourse centers on people-oriented governance and a modernization mission. These nominations are shown to function not only descriptively but also normatively, shaping the image of the “ideal citizen” and reinforcing frameworks of political identity. The study contributes to the fields of media linguistics, political linguistics, and critical discourse analysis.