(Re)shaping Ukrainian identity through linguistic choices during full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war

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(Re)shaping Ukrainian identity through linguistic choices during full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war

Halasa I.S., Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor

at the Department of International Economic Relations Educational

and Scientific Institute of International Relations named after

B.D. Havrylyshyn of the West Ukrainian National University,

Guest researcher, King's College London, Great Britain

Linguistic implications form vital insights for understanding the nature of war discourse. They also demonstrate ways in which language is manipulated in order to achieve definite goals. Most of recent studies in different fields confirm the fact that war discourse actors can use language as means for their tasks completion: whether to establish their points of view or to build alliances. However, very few of them explicitly show how this is done linguistically.

Ukrainian identity has been questioned for centuries. Struggles between the Eastern Slavic and ethnic Ukrainian national identity admirers in the early years of Ukrainian independence provoked national identity politization. Since there was no common understanding of national identity definition, post-independent Ukraine suffered from many tensions. As a result, language issue has always been very complex. Political actors used to and still do continue to use language in their speeches to manipulate people's opinions and preferences. The full-scale invasion of Russian Federation to Ukraine on February 22, 2024 provided language with a new role and new functions. It is viewed as both a linguistic weapon and soft power. Neologisms and war metaphors, allusion and euphemisms, humor and sarcasm are constantly occurring in the speeches of Ukrainian political leaders, defenders, citizens in order to mark one of the most tragic periods in Ukrainian history.

The studies of language within the critical linguistics framework are mainly motivated by an understanding of the importance of language as a vehicle able to shape, transform or misrepresent the reality. This study is a socio-linguistic analysis of Ukrainian war discourse, produced by the Ukrainians, in general, and by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in particular, in order to support, inspire, encourage and build resilience during the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian War. Method of this definite research project is Ukrainian Independence Day speech of Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented during the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war on August 24, 2023. The study is aimed at answering the following questions: What function, if any, does the speech of Volodymyr Zelenskyy have on the Ukrainian audience? And what linguistic means, if any, does the Ukrainian President deliberately use to achieve his goals while interacting with the Ukrainians?

Key words: critical discourse analysis, full-scale war, Ukrainian identity, linguistic devices, influence, manipulation.

(Ре)формування української ідентичності засобами лінгвістичного вибору під час повномасштабної російсько-української війни

Правильний лінгвістичний вибір формує життєво важливі ідеї для розуміння природи дискурсу війни. Він також демонструє способи маніпулювання мовленням для досягнення конкретних цілей. Переважна більшість досліджень у різних галузях наукового вчення підтверджує той факт, що мовці воєнного дискурсу можуть використовувати мовні засоби для досягнення поставлених перед собою завдань: чи то для окреслення своєї точки зору, чи то для створення союзу із співрозмовником. Однак дуже мало з них демонструють лінгвістичний аспект досягнення мети.

Українську ідентичність століттями ставили під сумнів. Боротьба між прихильниками східнослов'янської та етнічної української національної ідентичності в перші роки незалежності спричинила її політизацію. Оскільки не було єдиного розуміння щодо трактування національної ідентичності, Україна страждала від постійного протистояння та напруження. Як наслідок, мовне питання залишалось складним. Політичні актори використовували і досі продовжують використовувати мову у своїх промовах для маніпулювання думкою та вподобаннями громадян. Пов- номасштабне вторгнення Російської Федерації в Україну 22 лютого 2024 року наділило мову новими функціями.

Вона стала одночасно зброєю та м'якою силою. Неологізми та воєнні метафори, алюзія та евфемізми, гумор та сарказм часто зустрічаються у виступах українських політичних лідерів, захисників, громадян, щоб зафіксувати у пам'яті один із найтрагічніших періодів української історії.

Вивчення мови в рамках критичної лінгвістики є важливим для її розуміння як засобу, здатного формувати, трансформувати або спотворювати реальність. Це дослідження є соціолінгвістичним аналізом українського воєнного дискурсу, створеного українцями загалом і Володимиром Зеленським зокрема, щоб підтримати, надихнути, підбадьорити та сформувати стійкість під час повномасштабної російсько-української війни. Методом цього конкретного дослідницького проекту є промова Володимира Зеленського з нагоди Дня Незалежності України, виголошена після повномасштабного російсько-українського вторгнення Росії на територію незалежної України 24 серпня 2023 року. Дослідження спрямоване на те, щоб дати відповідь на такі запитання: Які функції виконують виступи Володимира Зеленського, та який вплив вони мають на громадян? А також, які мовні засоби свідомо використовує Президент України для досягнення своїх цілей у спілкуванні з українцями?

Ключові слова: критичний дискурс-аналіз, повномасштабна війна, українська ідентичність, лінгвістичні засоби, вплив, маніпуляція.

Introduction

Regardless whether the world changed drastically or just found an argument to justify the change, the full scale Russo-Ukrainian War is an event that has been used as the turning point to lead the public opinion through political and war discourse to support political and military actions or to set alignments with specific ideological positionings in Ukraine. A historical analysis puts facts that strike society in a particular moment into perspective. In the case of the Russo-Ukrainian War, there is a tendency to vividly show the scope of the tragedy to fully demonize the enemy through portraying their “otherness”. And in the central core of this is the picture of Ukraine (its language problem, values, church and so on) as the universal symbol. This terrifying time-period is crucial not only for Ukraine, but equally for the rest of Europe. Situation in Ukraine also changed European perspectives on foreign policy, security, alienation, etc. Other consequences may not be so visible at first glance, but they are a result of the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which changed and are changing many aspects of Ukrainians' lives.

It is interesting that the most controversial of all types of discourse is war discourse. Some scientists consider it to be a part of political discourse. We believe that the most accurate interpretation of the concept political discourse is as follows: it is a manifestation of political communication, which involves the actualization of a political text in a communicative act of interaction between a political subject (politician, state authority, political party) and a political object (audience, electorate, voters). Some researchers, in particular Fomenko, state that political discourse is a set of all speech acts in political discussions [2, p. 4].

There are also different definitions of the notion war discourse. It is evident that war discourse can provide a critical context for its users to make direct and indirect allusions between the conflict and modern concerns. Soldiers familiarise themselves with the formal and informal terms of the army through their training and service [13, p. 458]. It is clear that war discourse is sometimes viewed by the journalists as a type of lexical dependence. That means that some linguistic means used by the journalists to describe war are borrowed from war-related rhetoric developed in other fields (humanitarian aid, diplomacy, or human rights advocacy). Moreover, the media representatives in their articles find practical reliance on humanitarian organisations. These are the facts that influence the discourse of war in the articles of the journalists [4, p. 61]. In the current aggressive Russia's war discourse, it is important to highlight the attitudinal mental representations shared by Russians who support the physical and cultural destruction of Ukraine. Consequently, this analysis could explain allowance of military offensive among the Russian audience and discover the discursive ways of its legitimization in Russian society [12, p. 132]. In my opinion, discourse of Russo-Ukrainian war is definitely characterized by strong “masculinity”. Metaphor and allusion are the most popular stylistic devices in speeches of social actors of Ukraine and Russia. Verbal aggression, intolerant expressions, and negative connotation of most linguistic means are present more often in the messages of Russian speakers.

The studies of language within the critical linguistics framework are mainly motivated by an understanding of the importance of language as a vehicle able to shape, transform or misrepresent the reality. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate: What functions, if any, do the speeches of Volodymyr Zelenskyy have on the Ukrainian audience? And what linguistic means, if any, does the Ukrainian President deliberately use to achieve his goals while interacting with the Ukrainians? Ukrainian Independence Day speech of V.Zelenskyy presented during full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war on August 24, 2023 form the method of the study. For the data analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis is used.

Results and discussion

identity linguistic war

Understanding the very core of Ukrainian identity will surely help understand how Ukrainians think, what they are dreaming about, what makes them happy, sad or angry. Consequently, one will be aware why they choose specific linguistic means to describe their state, why they prefer unique sense of humor to depict a definite situation. So far I managed to note three groups of war vocabulary in Ukraine caused by the full-scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine:

1. Vocabulary connected with horror and disaster:

“air raid alarm”, “siren”, “missiles”, “invaders”, “terrorists”, “occupants”, “genocide”, “shelling”, “fighter jet”, “air defense”, “nuclear weapon”, “shelter”, “explosions”, “disinformation”, “displaced”, “refugees”, “annihilate”, “danger”, “smashed kitchens”, “remnants of bedrooms”, “silence”, “tickets”, “trash”, “warehouse”, “bodies”, etc.

2. Enthusiastic and patriotic vocabulary: “Glory to Ukraine”, “Glory to the Heroes”, “Be brave like Ukraine”, “Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, “Good evening. We are from Ukraine”, “defenders”, “victory”, “peace”, “independence”, “Russian warship”, “anxiety”, “love”, “hope”, “belief”, “freedom”, “future”, etc.

3. Neologisms: “macronism”, “javelin”,

“humanitarian corridor”, “putler” (not capitalized), “putin”, “kaputler”, “orcs”, “russists”, “raschists”, “gauleiter”, “collaborator”, “polizei”, “Johnsonuk”, “to play Scholz, “russia” (not capitalized), “Bucha”, “Irpin”, “cyborgs”, “TikTok army”, “Bayraktar”, “inthreedays”, “to kimize”, “pixel”, “arrival”, “to start the tractor”, “clear sky”, “discotheque”, etc.

Ukrainians don't capitalize such words as “putin”, “russia”, “kreml” any more showing the lack of respect. “Inthreedays”, as one word, is referred to Russians who were dreaming of invading Kyiv in three days. “Johnsonuk” is Boris Johnson's Instagram page. “Uk” is a typical suffix for Ukrainian surnames. So, if read together, one can think about a holder of a Ukrainian surname. “Macronism” means to speak politely, but providing no help. “To play Scholtz” stands for behaving as if you don't understand what is going on.

Speaking about language preferences in Russia war discourse, I would definitely highlight the following words: “nazi”, “neo-nazi”, “nazism”, “denazification”, “ukronazism”, and “demilitarization”. This is the way Russian authorities legitimize armed conflict convincing their citizens in Russia's role of a helper and savior. Moreover, Russian media uses the approach of “otherness”.

Corpus Analysis. This paper interprets President Zelenskyy's Independence Day speech presented on August 24, 2023. It is analyzed from the perspective of critical discourse analysis.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the sixth president of Ukraine since 2019. He was formerly a comedian and an actor. In March 2018, members of Zelenskyy's production company Kvartal 95 registered a new political party called Servant of the People the same name as the television program that V. Zelenskyy had starred in over the previous three years. Taking into account Zelenskyy's former career, discourse has always been an important tool to influence and manipulate the audience. Kvartal 95 humor, sarcasm and satire were the key means to reach the reciepients before his presidential ambitions. And his political speeches in the role of the President became the main source of information and support to the Ukrainians during the full-scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine.

Table 1

Frequency of personal pronouns usage by V. Zelenskyy

In general, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speeches perform four functions, according to my observation. They are:

1. Unifying function. The aim of this function is to unite the citizens of Ukraine against the common enemy - Russian Federation. The President keeps telling that only together the Ukrainian nation will be able to win the war (“Бо ви важливі. Всі українці! Хоч би де довелося зараз бути”, “Кожен, хто організовує збори й підтримує вогонь волонтерства, цієї щирої української єдності”, “І головне, що ми всі тебе не втратили”, “Бо ми всі зробили так, що коли один говорить: «Слава Україні!», весь світ відповідає: «Героям слава!»”').

2. Supportive and encouraging functions. Being the leader of the nation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considered to be one of the most influencial people in Ukraine who is able to support and encourage Ukrainians, make them believe in better future, give them hope and provide them with help (“Дякую кожному, хто чекає рідних із фронту, кожному, хто щодня молиться за них, хто телефонує чи пише таке важливе «Як ти?», аби почути таке бажане «Все добре!» Таке цінне «Ятебе кохаю»... «Наш син зробив учора перший крок». «Доця сьогодні сказала: «Тато».”, “І коли в будь-якій країні мама дає своїй дитині книжку українською, щоб дитина не втратила себе й свого, коли мама вчить української, коли переживає за Україну й чекає новин з України, чекає, щоб можна було повернутися, - це найважливіше”).

3. Sympathetic function. Sympathy is an emotion typical for kind-hearted people. This is the way the President wants to be and hopes to look like. Being sympathetic for the Ukrainians' grief, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is portrayed as “one of us”. His feelings are human and common for every citizen of the coun-try (“Зв'язок між людьми. І це більше, ніж просто комунікація. Це зв'язок із життям. Слова підтримки. Слова подяки. І, на жаль, слова, які є найбільш болісними на війні: «Його більше немає...»”, “Чимало українців втратили через війну близьких. Герої, завдяки яким ми не втратили України. Я дякую і вклоняюся перед кожним і кожною з них”').

4. Glorious function. Accept all functions, stated above; glorious function plays a very important role. Seen as strong and brave, Ukrainians are likely to overcome all difficulties and hardships even easier (“Великий народе великої України ”, “Свято вільних людей. Свято сильних людей. Свято гідних. Свято рівних”, «Слава Україні!», «Слава українським електрикам!», “З Днем Незалежності, Україно! Слава Україні! ”).

Pronouns usage in Volodymyr Zelenskyy Independence Day Speech. How to address someone reflects the attitude of the speaker. Personal pronouns play a significant role in connecting the speaker and the audience. Pronouns can reflect unification or distance between them. The frequency of personal pronouns usage, used by the President of Ukraine in his Independence Day speech on August 24, 2023, is shown in Table 1.

Statistics demonstrates that the highest frequency of occurrence in Volodymyr Zelenskyy speech is the first person singular and plural pronouns, in which “we/us/our” appear 26 times. “I” - 11 times. Second person singular and plural pronouns also appeared frequently, 14 times in total. Second person plural pronouns were used 8 times. The President shares the same emotions with his nation, demonstrates himself as an inseparable part of it with the help of first person plural pronouns. However, a rather big amount of first person singular pronouns proves that as a leader of the country he is responsible for taking important decisions which can usually lead to vital consequences. Second person plural pronouns are not often used. The reason for that can be the President's lack of wish to make a distance between himself and the people.

Repetitions in the speech. A very important stylistic device in Volodymyr Zelenskyy speech is repetition. Such words as “each” (21 times), Ukraine/ Ukrainian/Ukrainian” (42 times), “independence” (10 times) and “thank you” (10 times) are repeated very often throughout the speech. The key goal of repetition is to emphasize an important issue, the notion that really matters to the speaker, and the key point that may have a tremendous influence on the recipient. The President's belief is that each Ukrainian citizen is vital in his fight for Ukrainian Independence; and he, as a leader of the nation is grateful for that. This is the key message in his Independence Day Speech on August 24, 2023.

Study Limitations. This study has several limitations that should be addressed. There is no pre-full-scale invasion linguistic analysis of the Independence Day speeches of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Among the prospects of further search is comparison of the President of Ukraine Independence Day speeches during full-scale invasion with his Independence Day speeches presented before it started.

Conclusions

This paper interprets Volodymyr Zelenskyy Independence Day speech on August 24, 2023 from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. The analysis results show that the frequent use of «you, your» in personal pronouns demonstrates that each and every citizen of Ukraine is important to him. However, first person singular “I” is also often used showing the power of the leader of the nation. Critical discourse analysis reveals the relationship between linguistic means choice importance and ideology, and shows the way language becomes the tool for influencing the reciepients.

Aggression is an inseparable part of verbal and non-verbal communication during war. This type of discourse during armed conflicts may and usually does influence recipients' beliefs and ideological preferences. Consequently, hatred finds its way out in physical environments.

This study also complements and innovates different theoretical approaches to present analysis of alignment and distancing in war discourse. It also presents another interdisciplinary approach to account for the linguistic realizations of categorization of discursive strategies, showing what specific aims can be achieved with each of them. The future focus will be on understanding of how Volodymyr Zelenskyy speeches before Russia's invasion and during the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war differ.

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