Rola eufemizmów w kreowaniu obrazu rzeczywistości wojennej: pragmalingwistyczna analiza rosyjskiego dyskursu medialnego na temat wojny w Ukrainie

The article is devoted to the role of euphemisms in the development of journalistic newspeak in contemporary Russia. Euphemistic-dysphemistic instruments in media communication correspond to the agonistic, bipolar essence of political discourse. The narrative of the official Russian media about the “special military operation” is based on the use of expressive evaluative vocabulary, which contributes to creating a certain image of military actions in an appropriate convention and a clear polarization of “us” and “them”. Contemporary political newspeak contains numerous incomprehensible lexemes, often euphemistic (хлопок instead of взрыв, перегруппировка instead of отступление). In accordance with the practice of effective manipulation, euphemisms and dysphemisms are constantly repeated, which helps to deprive the recipient of alternative thinking.