Займенникове конструювання національної ідентичності в сучасному медійному дискурсі України
Pronominal Construction of National Identity in the Modern Mass Media Discourse of Ukraine

Author(s): Natalia Yacakova
Subject(s): Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: pragmatics; media discourse; mass media text; national identity; pronoun “we”; discursive strategy
Summary/Abstract: The papers contains analysis of parameters of use of the national “we” that appeared in Ukrainian media texts in the year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. This research is based on the publications and excerpted statements from the newspaper "Den" that were made public during 2022. Identity is a dynamic phenomenon and language plays a key role in its design, alteration and support. The pronoun “we” is one of the linguistic means that help form national identity, it is used to denote all representatives of the nation, including a speaker, and in such case it serves as a national “we”. The diversity of “we” as well as the frequency and naturality of use of that nominative pronoun in different contexts and communication situations is the basis for the efficiency of its use to define, shape and actualize national identity in the media discourse. Verbalization of the national identity by means of the nominative pronoun “we” is understandable due to the deep rooting of the “friend-or-foe” opposition in the human social nature, which in general terms can be represented by the pronouns “we” and “they”. The national “we” is indicative of a political community, hence, we interpret it as an aspect of an ideological “we” – one of the semantic and pragmatic variations of the categorical meaning of first person appearing in the course of interaction of the person and number categories. The use of the national “we” in Ukrainian mass media texts that appeared in the year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is a display of discursive construction of Ukrainian national identity through assimilation and dissimilation strategies. The national “we” is used to emphasise the need of clear definition, demonstration of the Ukrainian national identity; strengthening of the existing nation and state; representation of the nation’s present and future; formation of a common vision of the past; establishing of characteristics of the Ukrainians; separation of such characteristics from those of the enemy and finding a place amidst friendly nations. The more general research project is to determine the role of linguistic means in the construction, support and transformation of Ukrainian identity in different periods and in different discourses: in politicians’ speeches, the mass media, high school and secondary school textbooks, fiction books, social media, etc.

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