CHANGING SEMATICS OF THE ADJECTIVE "UKRAINIAN" DURING THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917–1921

Abstract

This article presents consideration of the sematic characteristics of the adjective "Ukrainian" that was changing during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921. The uses of this lexical unit selected from the journal records of Ye. Chykalenko and V. Vynnychenko served as a material of the study. The article marks an increase of semantic compatibility of the adjective "Ukrainian" as compared to the texts describing events in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. During the Ukrainian Revolution the adjective developed the ability to characterize the State and its institutions and was combined with the lexical units that demonstrated significance of separation from the Empire (independent, national, sovereign). Its synonyms expressing imperial attitude to the Ukrainian that existed in the Russian Empire’s public discourse in the early 20th century became irrelevant. At the same time the antonymous pair "Ukrainian – Little Russian" revealed an opposition of the truly Ukrainian and the colonial, associated with the imperial vision. The events of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 resulted in anchoring in the native speakers’ minds of a new cognitive model structures verbalized by the adjective "Ukrainian". This naming unit changed its status in the language code – transferred to the political category. Transition to the political status occurred by overcoming semantic restrictions specific to the nomens designating colonized peoples, disruption of semantic relations with the lexical units of the imperial discourse, and by opposing the inherent and imperial vision of the Ukrainian.