THE RUSSIAN–UKRAINIAN WAR AND ITS REFLECTION IN MODERN DICTIONARIES (BASED ON MATERIAL FROM SUM-20)

Liudmyla M. Tomilenko,

Email: tomilenko@i.ua

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0883-1250

PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher

Ukrainian Lingua-Information Fund of the NAS of Ukraine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2026.28.110-119

PDF  (UKRAINIAN)

ABSTRACT

The article examines the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the lexis-semantic system of the modern Ukrainian language and reflection of these changes in the academic Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language in 20 vols. (SUM-20). The war, which has continued since 2014 and gained particular intensity after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has become a powerful factor of linguistic transformation, including active renewal of the vocabulary, the emergence of new nominations, semantic shifts, and the reinterpretation of certain concepts. The aim of the present study was to identify and analyse the main lexis-semantic changes related to wartime events, based on SUM-20 dictionary entries compiled after 2014. The main objectives were to determine the new vocabulary of the wartime period, trace the development of the semantic structure of words, and analyse illustrative material representing contemporary events. The research material was collected using the Virtual Lexicographic Laboratory, which includes the Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language in 11 and 20 volumes, applying a method of continuous and partially automated selection of units from the dictionaries’ registers.
It has been established that SUM-20 records fix up an increase in military vocabulary, the intensification of abbreviations, and the emergence of neologisms and derivatives, including words denoting phenomena of the modern war (ATO, OOS, rashism, etc.). An expansion of the semantic structure of a number of lexemes has been identified, as well as an increase in the number of quotations – primarily from contemporary media sources – on war-related topics. It is concluded that the war has significantly influenced the language system and has created the need for prompt lexicographic documentation of new realities. Prospects for further research are associated with the analysis of military vocabulary in bilingual general-language dictionaries.

Keywords: Russian-Ukrainian war, explanatory dictionary, military vocabulary, wartime lexicon, neosemantics.

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