The Semantic Transformation of the Lexeme virohidnyĭ in the Ukrainian Linguistic and Cultural Space: A Postcolonial Perspective

This article analyses the semantic transformation of the lexeme virohidnyĭ ‘reliable’ in the Ukrainian linguistic and cultural space from a postcolonial perspective. The study traces the historical development of its meanings from the sixteenth century onward, examining its functional and stylistic features in texts of various genres. On the basis of a socio-psycholinguistic investigation, the study explains contemporary interpretations of this word among speakers from different regions of Ukraine. Special attention is given to the impact of the colonial language situation, which led to the semantic differentiation of the lexeme. Against a sociolinguistic background, the study identifies the factors behind the semantic transformation of the adjective virohidnyĭ during the Soviet era. Under the influence of the Russian word veroiatnyĭ, the lexeme gradually acquired a second meaning: ‘probable’. The article is based on lexicographic sources, corpus materials, an analysis of texts from various historical periods, and an assessment of Ukrainian speakers’ linguistic competence.