Covid-19: A Disaster in the Linguistic Dimension of Different Countries

Abstract

Covid‑19 is highly relevant in 2020; among other things, it is attracting new global socio-communicative and linguistic research. Scholars are addressing the linguistic response to the social and psychological situation in different countries in the era of coronavirus. Thus, the Editorial Board has created a forum for specialists to communicate (in writing), one which makes it possible to provide information about their sources on Covid‑19 and illustrate theoretical materials. The participants chose to analyse different aspects of language during the pandemic; medical terminology and its relevant vocabulary were the same for all countries. The conversation goes beyond the scope of linguistics, as it is important for the researchers to characterise measures taken by governments to combat Covid‑19 and the public’s reaction to them as reflected through language. Additionally, the authors focus on spontaneous linguistic responses to the pandemic in the form of language games, metaphors, and references to historical memory of combatting disasters. The pandemic has also caused long-standing forms of speech communication to change. Researchers from different European countries have took part: Arto Mustajoki (University of Helsinki, Finland; National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia), Nadezjda Zorikhina Nilsson (Stockholm University, Sweden), Rafael Guzmán Tirado (University of Granada, Spain), Anna Tous-Rovirosa and Daria Dergacheva (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain). The conversation was moderated by Irina Vepreva and Tatiana Itskovich (Ural Federal University Yekaterinburg, Russia).