NEW LEXICAL ELEMENTS IN THE LANGUAGE OF UKRAINIAN JOKES IN LEXICOGRAPHIC COVERAGE

Abstract

Objective. The purpose of the article is to identify new lexical elements in the language of Ukrainian jokes that appeared during the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022–2023, to analyze them and provide lexicographic coverage. Methods. Using the method of continuous sampling, new lexical elements related to Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine were identified from the respondents’ oral anecdotal accounts. Facts for analysis were also extracted from various online sources. To interpret the extracted material, the general scientific method of observation was applied to the relevant linguistic facts and the descriptive method was used to systematize the collected facts and their further lexicographic interpretation. Results. The article provides a lexicographical description of mainly noun-based new lexical items, the use of which in the language of Ukrainian folklore intensified during the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022–2023. Some of these elements existed in the language before, but began to be actively used directly in the language of Ukrainian jokes only during the Russian-Ukrainian war, they underwent some actualisation and reinterpretation, and even acquired new meanings during the above-mentioned events. Other words appeared in the language of Ukrainian folklore and in the Ukrainian language as a result of borrowings, mainly from English. The lexicographical description primarily covers numerous names for the occupiers, names of military equipment and weapons, and some other socio-political phenomena that emerged as a result of the war. It is noted that names for the aggressor usually have an emotional component in their semantics. We have also proposed the structure of a dictionary entry suitable for describing the analysed verbal facts and presented samples of lexicographic description of new lexical elements present in the language of Ukrainian joke. Conclusions. During the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022–2023, many new lexical elements appeared and penetrated the language of folk anecdotes and need to be represented in special dictionaries. It should be noted that the described names, in addition to the traditional elements of any dictionary entry used in linguistic lexicographic developments (register word, minimal grammatical information, stylistic marks, interpretation, stable phrases, illustrations, indication of their source base), the register part of a dictionary entry must necessarily reflect various phonetic and other variants used in oral speech to name a certain relatively new reality, and in the interpretive part of a dictionary entry, some lexemes, along with traditional interpretation, will sometimes require comments on their formation. We see the prospects for further research in the preparation of dictionaries aimed at describing the language of various genres of folklore, the identification of a new area of linguistic and folklore studies – folklore lexicography, and the implementation of a large-scale project “Dictionary of the Language of Folklore”.