Words with the Prefix De- in the Ukrainian Online Media: Structure, Semantics, Tonality

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the words with the prefix de- used in the language of mass media before the war (basing on the materials of Den newspaper published in September 2021) and during the war (on the example of Den newspaper materials published in October-November 2022 and some other online media). The research provides structural and semantic, etymological, statistical analysis and studies the tone expressed by the examined lexemes found in the texts. The prefix de- originates from Latin and means negation in the new-formed words. In the 51 materials of Den newspaper devoted to the economic and political events of the pre-war period (September 2021), 6 words with prefix de- were found. During the war, 19 units, including 4 units which were often repeated at the beginning of the persiod, were found in the analyzed resources. These lexemes are divided into three semantic groups, namely 1) downward movement, decline; 2) reduction, cancellation; 3) elimination, liquidation. It is marked that since the Russian invasion to Ukrainian, journalists have started to actively use the words directly related with the war: demilitarization, demobilization, demoralization, denazification, denationalization, deoccupation, desatanization, destabilization. The lexemes demilitarization, denazification, denationalization, desatanization express irony in the materials of Ukrainian journalists because these words are used by the aggressor to justify goals of the military invasion to Ukraine. In the majority of words, the prefix de- is used to make a word negative, but if a word is initially of negative meaning, the new-formed word with the prefix de- gets positive semantics. Most lexemes with the prefix de- attribute the text with a positive tone. Nevertheless, there are sentences with a negative, a neutral and an ironic tone. According to the etymology, almost all words with prefix de- are of foreign origin. According to the way of formation, the words with the prefix de- are divided into 1) those formed from nouns by adding the prefix; 2) those formed from verbs by adding the suffix. It is confirmed that lexemes like detoxification, de-shadowing, decommunization, destabilization, deregulation, demonopolization are not found in the Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language in eleven volumes, but are recorded in the Dictionary in twenty volumes. It means that these words have been first used in the 21st century. The lexemes de-Stalinization, desatanization, de-russification, depigmentation, deoccupation, debureaucratization are not found among the words registered in these explanatory dictionaries.