Psycholinguistic Aspects of the Semantic Field of the Concept “War” in Modern Media Space

Abstract

This paper presents modern trends in the change of the semantic field of the concept “war”. Based on the analysis of mass media in Russia, Ukraine and the USA, we demonstrated the regularities and interdependences of the mass media content and changes in the conceptual worldview of the people that consume information. We underlined the link between the changes in the forms of international conflicts and the increase of the units contributing to the semantic field of the concept “war”. We analised how the information and communicative space effects the change of the conceptual (mental, cognitive) worldview of the public. Analysis of the semantic compatibility of the features of the concept “war” in mass media has revealed that apart from the military and armament themes, it contains the semantic units related to informational and psychological tools of influence. In the result of the systematic application of the concept “war” in relation to such semantic units as “informational”, “psychological”, “cyber”, “hybrid”, “fake news”, “sanctions”, etc. there takes place a fixation of compatibility of new semantic units with the concept “war”. The broadening of the extent of the concept occurred due to the addition of two objects: “informational virtual component” comprising informational and psychological spheres of influence as well as a «technological component”, on which the informational security of the state is based. Thus, the modern extent and intent of the concept “war” includes not only academic dictionary definitions, but also the definitions that refer to the involvement of tools and techniques aimed at the securing an armless victory in the confrontation. The findings of the research also demonstrated a certain difference in the development of the concept in Ukrainian, western and pro-Russian mass media. While “war” in the pro-Russian mass media is covered in connection with an open aggression accompanied by the use of weapons, this concept in Ukrainian and western mass media is used in relation to psychological and information influence. Thus, at the current stage, the broadening of the extent of the concept war has taken place, which is interrelated with the expansion of the semantic field, and is reflected in the change in the conceptual picture of the world within this concept.