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Article In: Review of Cognitive Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Value system in the Russian concepts of vojna ‘war’

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Abstract
This study examines the concept of VOJNA ‘war’ in the Russian language within the framework of Jerzy Bartmiński’s ethnolinguistic theory of stereotypes, values, and cognitive definition. Values are treated as a primary cognitive and sociocultural component, linked to Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of habitus to better understand the dynamics of value systems. Adopting a corpus-based methodology, the analysis is conducted on 2,000 occurrences of VOJNA extracted from the National Corpus of the Russian Language (2000–2020), which were systematically coded using ATLAS.ti software.
In addition, the paper offers a comparative analysis of VOJNA and the euphemistic expression SPECIAL’NAJA VOENNAJA OPERACIJA ‘special military operation’, as employed in President Vladimir Putin’s public address of February 24, 2022. By focusing on this terminological shift, the study illustrates how language can be used to manipulate value perception and activate culturally entrenched stereotypes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Stereotype
    • 2.2Cognitive definition
    • 2.3Values
  • 3.Corpus and methodology
  • 4.Cultural conceptualization of war in Russian
    • 4.1Results and analysis
      • 4.1.1Social profile
      • 4.1.2Political profile
      • 4.1.3Historical profile
      • 4.1.4Qualitative profile
      • 4.1.5Ideological profile
      • 4.1.6Military profile
      • 4.1.7Physical profile
      • 4.1.8Legal profile
      • 4.1.9Biological profile
      • 4.1.10Psychological profile
      • 4.1.11Economic profile
      • 4.1.12Utilitarian profile
      • 4.1.13Religious profile
    • 4.2The Cognitive definition of war and value system
    • 4.3Prototypical war
    • 4.4The structure of Putin’s discourse
    • 4.5Value system in war and the special military operation
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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