COVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose

200 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 DITE LIEPA LU Institute of Latvian Language, Riga Stradiņš University EVIJA LIPARTE Independent translator doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2022.95.06 COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND WAR IN UKRAINE: THE USE OF EUPHEMISMS AND DISPHEMISMS IN PUBLIC DISCURSE IN LATVIAN, LITHUANIAN AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES1 ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: eufemizmai, disfemizmai, COVID-19 pandemija, karas, viešasis diskursas. ANNOTATION The article covers two categories of lexicon – euphemisms and disphemisms used during two major global events that have shaken the world since 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine started by Russia. The euphemisms and disphemisms included in the article identify the events mentioned in Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian. For the analysis of both pandemic and war vocabulary, two groups of vocabulary were selected: 1) words describing the COVID-19 pandemic; words describing sides of a divided society; 2) the lexicons used to name the Russian war against Ukraine; words describing the warring parties. ABSTRACT This article covers two lexical categories: euphemisms and dysphemisms in two major global events that shook the world since 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and the war that Russia started in Ukraine. The euphemisms and dysphemisms featured in the article are used to designate said events in the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian languages. For the lexical analysis of both the vocabulary of the pan1 The article is based on part of the presentation that was read at the international conference Slavic Borders at the Crossroads of the 20th and 21st Centuries, held at Vilnius University on September 8, 2022. Language-Society-Culture-Identity. One of the authors of the article, D. Liepa, prepared the article under the project of the Latvian State Research Programme Use and Development of Contemporary Latvian Language (No. VPP-LETONIKA-2022/1-0001). DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 201 demic period and that of the wartime were selected two lexical groups: (1) words that describe COVID-19 and the sides of the society divided; (2) lexemes used to designate the Russia-Ukraine war and the words that describe the warring sides. global challenges – ĮVADAS IR BENDRAS TEMOS APIBŪDINIMAS Sociolingvistė Ina Druvietė (2021: 7) yra nurodžiusi, kad „XXI amžiaus trečiasis dešimtmetis prasidėjo naujais išbandymais žmonijai, prie bendrų climate change, violent conflicts, income inequality and others – adding the pandemic caused by a new virus.” Even before the public passions about COVID-19 subsided, on February 24, 2022, the world was shaken by a new tragedy – the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These global events of the last three years have also affected language use. According to the researcher of political euphemisms and disphemisms Andrejus Veisbergas, the expression of language has become more vulgar – this is determined by the real situation. “About Šveik’s translation in the 1920s and 1930s, the public also said that it was extremely obscene and with Russian slang, but that’s how it is: during war people curse, the creator Reinhold Amman similarly wrote about war in another literature. The fact that there is creativity in ir tai galima suprasti“ (Valodnieki 2022). Vokiečių kilmės JAV kalbininkas, malediktologijos2 pradininkas ir bavarų–austrų keiksmažodžių žodyno sulanguage is one of the indicators that it is vital, that speakers perceive language as kūrinyje: Homero vaizduojami didvyriai prieš kovodami ginklais iškoneveikdavo vieni kitus (Aman 1975: 160). Keikimąsi jis apibūdina kaip agresyvų žodinį veiksmą, kuris dažniausiai vyksta susijaudinus, būna sukeltas frustracijos (Aman 1975: 153). Emocijoms ir reakcijai į situaciją išreikšti dažnai ieškoma ne tik slengo žodžių, bet ir naujažodžių: „<...> kalbos dvasia vis dar gyva. Kalbos sistema vis dar yra lanksti, žmonės geba reaguoti į aktualius įvykius kurdami naujus žodžius ir konstrukcijas pagal jau esamus modelius. Svarbiausia – belonging to them, as a value. This confirms that the Latvian language is capable of adapting to any conditions” (Druviete 2022: 202). 2 Maledictology (German: Malediktologie, English: maledictology < Latin: maledicere 'to curse, to defeat') is a field of psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and psychology that studies cursing and profanity, i.e. lexicon that realizes one of the acts of aggressive speech - defeat. 202 COMMON LANGUAGE | 95 The authors of this article have already discussed the linguistic creation stimulated by the pandemic in terms of vocabulary and word formation in publications in various countries, as well as the similarities and differences in Latvian and Lithuanian attitudes to the pandemic and its realities3. During the last three years, due to public activity in the media, publications, comments on social networks, the vocabulary of Latvian and Lithuanian languages has been supplemented with both new and older, but less commonly used terms, as well as other novelties4. However, the linguistic experience of the pandemic is only part of the experience. In 2022 the world is in real war, it becomes clear that the use of war and fighting vocabulary during kalbų žodynus papildė karo leksika. Su ja – kaip ir su pačiu karo faktu – visuomenė dar tik mokosi gyventi. Dabar, kai akivaizdu, kad Ukrainoje the pandemic did not have an objective basis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the heroic and self-sacrificing behaviour of medical workers and their volunteer helpers (working overtime in difficult, difficult and mostly risky conditions) was described by the use of war vocabulary and war terminology in figurative meanings, e.g.: COVID front, front line drawn in hospital corridors, doctors – true heroes, fighting in the front lines of trenches, etc. However, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it became clear that a real war had begun, and the words war, front, walls, enemy must be understood literally, not figuratively (see also Druviete 2022: 202). Latvian publicist Pauls Raudseps wrote: The pandemic is not a real war, but it is closer to war than anything the vast majority of Latvians have experienced. The attacker is not the army of another state, but the virus is ruthless and stubborn. As in war, this enemy cannot be defeated without a noble attitude and a clear awareness that both politicians and society must be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of a great cause (Raudseps 2021). During the pandemic, war vocabulary was used by politicians and medical workers, and it was not lacking in publications. The question is how appropriate it was and how it was viewed. There has been considerable debate on this issue: before the speech3 See the bibliography at the end of the article. 4 Translator and linguist E. Liparte has recorded more than 1,500 noun stitches in Latvian online texts that were updated or created during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 (Liparte 2021a), sociolinguist D. Liepa, together with sociologist Anda Rožukalne, reviewed 256 new stitches with the lexical elements kovid-, koronused in Latvian online news commentary during the first and second periods of the state of emergency (for them see below, footnote 12) (Rožukalne, July 2022: 195). DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 203 and journalists, and linguists, and sociologists. A discussion led by Jolanta Zabarskaitė (2020) in the Language Club showed that in the post-Soviet space this may be related to the legacy of the past – thinking brought from the Soviet era, when, living behind the Iron Curtain, any disruption or restriction of the usual rhythm of life was perceived as an enemy to be fought against5. In support of this idea, especially in 2022 Russia and Ukraine nos karo kontekste, vis dėlto manytina, kad tikrasis frontas, priekinės linijos ir didvyriai yra kare, todėl sveikatos srityje kalbos kūryba turėtų būti are different (see also July, Liparte 2022: 66-67). The war in Ukraine has brought the word war to the actual meaning in European countries. In both Baltic languages – Latvian and Lithuanian – it has been in the passive layer for some time, because there has been no active military action in Latvia and Lithuania since the end of World War II. In the post-war years, there were struggles for independence and resistance – the Forest Brothers movements, dissident protests. In 1991, there was a struggle for the restoration of state independence, which demanded human sacrifices in both Lithuania and Latvia, but the war started by Russia led to a new, 21st century war lexicon, which had no analogue so far, and active categories of this lexicon are also euphemisms and disphemisms. When the other weapons of language are too weak, indignation, despair and aggression erupt, and dysphemisms play a particularly important role here. In turn, Russia, the aggressor, seeks to disguise the attack, the demonstration of power, the imposition of its will, the armed struggles and the massacres that it has caused, or to call them by other names – this is how euphemisms change the literal concepts. The aim of this article is to investigate the use of euphemisms and disphemisms in Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian, which are used in public discourse to describe some aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The public discourse in this article is considered to be websites from which written and oral empirical material has been collected: articles and comments on news and opinion portals, social networks and forums on both topics6. This material is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive. It is a changing, still supplementary database, not limited to a specific source or period. The collection of samples is limited only by the physical possibilities of capturing all the material found in the vastness of the Internet. Linguists are still summarising the material on the effects of the war in Ukraine on language, so it should be interesting and valuable 5 On Soviet political euphemisms see also. Irena Smetonienė and Danutė Daučiūnaitė (2014). 6 See the list of sources at the end of this article. 204 COMMON LANGUAGE | Results of 95 comparative studies (Druviete 2022: 200). This article is one of the comparative studies. It reviews and compares examples from different languages and different topics. The inclusion of Russian examples is deliberate, as they reveal both the rhetoric of the ruling Kremlin’s policies and the democratic efforts of the Russian opposition media to objectively describe what is happening in Russia and Ukraine. In addition, the Russian language, which is considered to be war ir plitimo pradiniu šaltiniu: karo leksiką rusų kalba cituoja ir komentuoja, aiškina ir analizuoja viso pasaulio žiniasklaida. Oficialioji Rusijos žiniasklaida pandemijos metu ne tik Latvijoje ir Lietuvoje, bet ir kitose pasaulio vocabulary, spread misbelief and doubt about the seriousness of the virus and vaccines in the countries of use, and when Russia invaded Ukraine, it surprised the world by denying the war, describing it with such euphemisms as special operation, special operation, military operation and others, thus enriching the amount of disinformation in the general flow of information and increasing emotional tension. For the analysis of both pandemic and military vocabulary, two groups of vocabulary were selected. In analysing the vocabulary of the COVID-19 pandemic, words characterizing the disease and the situation, as well as describing sides of a divided society, are discussed, and in analysing the vocabulary of the Russian and Ukrainian war – lexicons used to name the situation and words describing the warring sides. The following tasks are presented in the thesis: 1) to record the use of the vocabulary of the specified groups on websites, selecting euphemisms and disphemisms; 2) to compare the use of euphemisms and disphemisms in the discourses of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The research uses descriptive, component analysis and partly comparative methods. By comparing the material of several languages, it is possible to judge both about the universality of the reality and language phenomena reviewed, and about the possibilities of the latter’s acquisition. The article only performs a qualitative analysis, without paying attention to the number of euphemisms and disphemisms, their proportional relationship and frequency of use, as well as without quantitatively distinguishing traditional disphemisms (including vulgarisms) from situational disphemisms (including new ones). Examples are not analyzed according to the methods of euphemism (see Kudirka 2012; Smetonienė, Daučiūnaitė 2014) and disfeminism. This could be the subject of a separate study, especially the metaphorical nomination, which is particularly abundant in both discourses reviewed in all three languages. DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 205 1. EUFEMIZMAI IR DISFEMIZMAI: As Marius Smetona points out, the main problem in the study of euphemisms is their identification and definition. According to M. Smetona, there are many definitions of this concept, “because all scientists define euphemisms in the way that individual research requires” (Smetona 2015: 6), thus adapting them to the purpose of the research. In the definitions of euphemism in Latvian linguistics, emphasis is placed on the use of euphemisms which are used instead of a taboo word, vulgarism or another word of limited ir jais keičiamų žodžių stilistinis aspektas, kaip eufemizmų vartojimo tikslą nurodant tik pakeičiamąją funkciją: eufemizmas – tai „žodis ar posakis, use for ethical or other reasons” (VPSVe); it is “emotionally neutral words or phrases used in place of insults, overly straightforward or unpleasant words” (Veisbergs 1999: 17). Similarly, in German, euphemism is defined only as “a descriptive statement that embellish, mask, or mitigate an offensive or unpleasant word” (DUDEN). Definitions used by other linguists indicate several purposes of euphemisms, including: reconstruction of reality, masking, deception or misleading of the addressee, submission to the euphemistized person, etc.7 Taking into account the stated objectives, M. Smetona tries to formulate a definition that encompasses all of them: “Euphemism is a word or a combination of words used in the act of communication in order to appeal to the euphemistized object and thus change reality, or in order to mislead, to force the listener to understand reality as the speaker needs, as well as encodes the euphemistized objects, violating the original taboos and the results of their further development, etiquette, moral attitudes” (Smetona 2015: 25). Australian linguist Kate Burridge believes that "in a certain context, a taboo subject can be spoken of without violating the norms if a euphemism is used rather than a specific name. However, euphemistic vocabulary, which has such linguistic variants as military, political and medical jargon, is used to deliberately disguise, mislead” (Burridge 2012). Analyzing political euphemism in the headlines of journalistic articles in Lithuania, I. Smetonienė and D. Daučiūnaitė point out that euphemism is precisely7 R. Kudirka provides an overview of the definitions of euphemisms formulated by linguists from various countries. Political priedangai suteikia ir papildomų – klastos ir paslaptingumo matmenų. Šiuo atveju eufemizmai vartojami ne tiek tam, kad neužgautų jausmų, bet ir euphemism is also performed, whose “main purpose is to say in as gentle words and ways as possible what may be unacceptable, unpleasant to the majority of society, to cause negative emotions towards the state authorities or some state institutions” (Smetonienė, Daučiūnaitė 2014: 122; cited by Moskvin 2001: 63). Vasily Moskvin, quoted by the (2012) ir M. Smetona (2015: 11–17). 206 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 las gali būti pridengti, maskuoti ar iškraipyti esminius dalykus. Šią funklinguists, clearly distinguishes political euphemism from political disinformation, interpreting the latter as a lie and an obvious distortion of the truth. Both politicians and the media are trying to be diplomatic about the events in Ukraine, so according to I. Smetoniene and D. Daučiūnaitė, they “avoid calling things to mask events related to death, violence, other disasters” what their user wants to portray in a negative light” (Veisbergs 2002: 54). Describing the expression of rudeness in the crime discourse, Lithuanian linguists have formulated the following definition of dysphemisms: “words or combinations of words used instead of milder ones in order to form a negative opinion, give a negative tone or offend someone” (Jakimovienė 2017). In German, the definition of tikraisiais vardais ir kalbėdami apie nemalonius įvykius, netinkamus kitų šalių veiksmus, yra linkę pagražinti, sušvelninti tikruosius jų pavadinimus, dysphemism is very broad and vague, raising only the purpose of its use: "negative, (Smetonienė, Daučiūnaitė 2014: 125). Disfemizmai irgi apibrėžiami įvairiai, nurodant jų stilistinius aspektus (vulgarumą) ir (arba) tikslus – įskaudinti adresatą, perdėti neigiamus dalykus ir pan. Latvių kalbotyroje pateikiamais apibrėžimais akcentuojama, kad disfemizmas yra „familiarus, vulgarus žodis ar žodžių junginys, kuriuo sąmoningai pakeičiamas stilistiškai ir emocionaliai neutralus tos pačios realijos pavadinimas“ (VPSVe) arba, kad tai – „įskaudinantys, įžeidžiantys žodžiai, kuriais sąmoningai sustiprinamos neigiamos sąvokos, perdedama derogatory descriptive designation of a neutral or positive word" (DUDENe). The same applies to profanity. R. Aman has emphasized: “Every word that is used aggressively is a curse” (Aman 1975: 165). John E. Joseph also develops this idea: “Language must not be blasphemous, obscene, racist, to be offensive” (translated from Latvian, see Joseph 2008: 130). According to A. Veisbergas, there is no answer to the question of what is an offensive word, because “the meaning of a word lies not only in the word itself. It is given by the speaker, the writer, the listener, the reader. This means that any word can be offensive” (Veisbergs 2002: 56). The researcher proposes to distinguish between individual emotional dysphemisms and “real” dysphemisms – so he calls consumer dysphemisms. DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 207 jamus in public speech when mentioning enemies, rivals or enemies. In such cases, generalizations, hyperboles, the use of animal and disease names, emphasis on backwardness, insanity, etc. are used (Veisbergs 2002: 56–57). Examining the language of politics, A. Veisbergas wrote about euphemisms as follows: “<...> in the current information society it is impossible to remain silent – people must find a way to inform and disinform, justify, explain or deceive. Totalitarian regimes had it easier in this respect. They had a lot to hide both from the outside world and from their citizens, and sometimes from themselves. <...> Controlling the media, totalitarianism can afford to be silent, censor, omit. Democracy needs to speak, so euphemisms are much more widespread in it” (Veisbergs 1999: 17). Here it should be added that in a democratic society, dysphemisms are more common, because it is impossible to keep indignation, anger, disappointment, doubt or simply emotionality silent. People mean all this in different ways: they openly curse on social networks, ironically ridicule and call each other in the comments under articles on websites, publish some situational disfeminist novelty that attracts attention, etc. In this work, which discusses medical and military lexical variants, based on the reviewed definitions, euphemisms are considered words or phrases used instead of words avoided for ethical or other reasons, and disphemisms are words or combinations of words of negative connotation, with which stylistically and emotionally neutral names of the same reality are deliberately replaced. In addition, this article attempts to distinguish between traditional and situational dysphemisms. Traditional dysphemisms are considered to be those that are already historically established in the language, used almost universally in various situations8, including vulgarisms (e.g., fascist, occupier, criminal, idiot, playful language10, e.g., by means of phonetic deformation: korona – shromada) or runkelis, pidaras), o situaciniais disfemizmais – žodžiai, kurie sukuriami konkrečioje situacijoje9 (remiantis asociaciojimis, kontaminacijos būdu ar taikant acquire a dysphemistic connotation that they usually do not have (e.g., skiers). However, it is difficult to draw a strict boundary between these two groups of dysphemisms, because it is not clear what time period or frequency of use should be considered as a criterion for the establishment of dysphemism (e.g., dysphemism that appeared only during COVID-19 8). E. Liparte (2021b: 87–88). 9 Therefore, they can also be called (ocasional) dysphemistic novelties. 10 Apie žaidimą kalba (latv. valodas spēle) latvių šnekamojoje kalboje ir jo priemones žr. V. Ernstsone (1997). 208 COMMON LANGUAGE | 95 pandemic, can be used widely and in various meanings). The euphemisms discussed in this article are not differentiated, although it is sometimes proposed to divide them into new and old11; political and propaganda euphemisms would fall into the category of “new”. 2. EUPHEMISMS AND DISPHEMISMS USES TO DESCRIBE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 2.1. Euphemisms and disphemisms of disease and situation M. Smetona cites J. K. Rowling’s novels about Harry Potter as an example of the prominent use of taboos and euphemisms about a person and his name in contemporary fiction. Fearful not only of the evil wizard Voldemort, but also of uttering his name, other wizards call Voldemort "You Know Who" or "The One Who Can't Be Named". Even his followers, the Death Eaters, do not call their ruler by name, but refer to him as the Lord of Darkness or the Master (Smetona 2015: 24). In Latvia, associations with this character were aroused by the official name of the strict movement restrictions imposed during the pandemic, mājsēde12, which many people perceived not only as the Latvian variant of the English term lockdown, but also as a euphemism of the military term komandantstunda ‘command hour’. This is shown, for example, by a post posted on Facebook in early 2021: It seems that for many these official designations are just like Voldemort in Harry Potter’s saga – “That,whichisnotnamed” <...>. That’s probably why all these sit-ins13, etc., happen. (I see that for many people these official names are like Voldemort from the Harry Potter saga – “He Who Is Not Called by Name” <...>. Probably that’s why there are all those mājsēdes and so on). 11 R. Kudirka (2012) refers to this possibility. 12 In Mājsēde, ‘special restriction of movement is the requirement not to leave the place of residence for a specified period’ (Tēzaurs). It is a syntactic-morphological punch (< māj-a ‘house’ + sēd-ēt ‘to sit’ + ending -e; for more details see E. Liparte (2021a: 115–116)), according to its significance in the context of COVID-19, it corresponds to the former countrywide quarantine in Lithuania. As an official term, mājsēde has been used in Latvia since the beginning of the second state of emergency (November 2020), when strict movement restrictions, including curfew, were introduced. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia there have been a total of three periods of state of emergency declared by the government, during which restrictions of varying severity were applied: 1) from 2020-03-12 to 2020-06-10; 2) from 2020-11-09 to 2021-04-06; 3) from 2021-10-11 to 2022-04-01. 13 In all the examples given, the author of the article is emphasised, except for this word, which is emphasised by the author himself in his entry. Only the most serious spelling and punctuation errors that would interfere with the understanding of the content have been corrected in the examples and their translations. DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 215 Well, if the minister is allowed to use uncensored vocabulary and talk about the “pohujism” eugene, then I can reveal something new to him: there is also a “nahujism” eugene in Eastern Europe. We in Eastern Europe are sending ministers in that direction, who want to control us completely and turn our entire lives into a concentration camp, telling stories about “protecting the elderly from the virus” (Well, if the minister can use uncensored vocabulary to talk about the “pochuizmo” gene, then I can reveal to him something new: Rytų Europoje esama ir „nachuizmo“ geno. We in Eastern Europe are sending ministers in the appropriate direction who want to control us completely and turn our entire lives into a concentration camp, following the fairy tales of “protecting the elderly from the virus”). Another netizen expressed his opinion as follows: today the minister uses the word “pohujisma”, but tomorrow – “iģiķeennahuj”? (today the minister uses the word “pochuismo”, tomorrow – “go nachui30”). Not even a year and a half has passed, the situation in Europe and the world has changed dramatically, and this vulgar phrase has become a flying slogan, a motto that has united both the defenders of Ukraine themselves and the people who support them elsewhere in the world. 3. WORDS DESCRIBING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 3.1. Disphemisms and euphemisms in relation to the situation in Ukraine When examining the euphemistical and disphemistical vocabulary used to describe the situation in Ukraine after the Russian invasion and the warring sides, special attention should be paid to the disphemistical phrase (Russian curse) used in the first days of the war: Русский военный корабль, иди нахуй! (Russian soldier on the ship, go nachui), which went around the world at lightning speed. As emphasized in a discussion held on the Latvian radio show Ģimenes studija (Family Studio) on 21 April 2022, some curses have become “good tone”, the tragedy of war justifies their use (Lamuvārdi 2022). The cruiser Moskva became notorious in the first days of the war when it called on Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island to surrender, but they refused to do so and rudely sent a warship with this phrase. The phrase spoken out of anger by the defender of Snake Island became the motto of the defenders of Ukraine: using it, the names of settlements were repainted on road signs, thus demonstrating the postžiūrį į įsibrovėlius. Kai 2022 m. balandžio 14 d. Moskva nuskendo (nuo Juodąją jūrą saugojusių Ukrainos raketų Neptun smūgių), ukrainiečiai džiau30 Liet. vulg. nachui ‘1. keiksmas, vartojamas kaip pertaras: eik nachui <...>. 2. velniop, tebūnie. <...>ʼ eina nachui! velniop, kaip blogaiʼ (Zaikauskas 2008: 97). 216 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 gėsi, kad laivas nuplaukė ten, kur buvo pasiųstas. Vėliau šis šūkis buvo used to describe what is happening in Ukraine. Ukrainian writer, photoSuch things are grafas ir karys Artemas Čapajus (Артем Чапай) rašė: inevitable, and you need to try to understand this. One way or another, we are all confused: unarmed people in Berdyansk are sending armed occupiers to Nakhchivan, women in Romny district are sending armored old men to Nakhchivan. Everyone is doing what they can. Ukrainians are mega cool, like David vs Goliath (Chapajs 2022). The saying with the Russian curseword became popular outside Ukraine, probably because of its linguistic expressiveness. The Latvians translate it only in part, much softer). palikdami vertimo kalboje originalo kalbos centrinį, stilistiškai žymėtą elementą: Krievu karakuģi, ej nahuj! (latviškasis atitikmuo ej dirst ‘eik šikt’ būtų Participants of the radio show, including A. Veisbergas, commenting on such vocabulary, called obscene words with various euphemisms (according to the first letters of the respective words), e.g., bē-vārdi ‘b-words’, hā-bē-pē ‘ch-b-p’, en-vārdi ‘n-words’, or used the word combination tāda leksika ‘such lexicon’, emphasizing the word such. The participants of the show also discussed why rough, indecent vocabulary is more common during war: open conflict situation, sharpened emotions; if one side uses such a vocabulary, sooner or later the other side will follow. When stylistically neutral vocabulary is ineffective (does not cause a reaction), stylistically expressive words are used, such as dysphemisms. True, the Lithuanian social network Facebook users have come up with a euphemistical, polite and funny substitute for this saying: “EIKėTUžZET!”, – a short, clear, polite sending of characters of a certain kind after a Russian military ship! Another euphemism, to follow the ship’s direction (pasiųsti laivo kryptimi), which was proposed as a candidate for the Proverb of the Year in Lithuania, “is already widely used and understood without any contexts” (Urnėžiūtė 2022: 18). The war that began on February 24, 2022, which, without hiding the truth, is called the brutal war against Ukraine or the Russian war in Ukraine, is not called war by the Russian leadership and the official media, using various euphemisms. Political scientist Yevgeny Roshchinas writes: 2022 m. vasario 24 d. Rusijos prezidentas Vladimiras Putinas pranešė, kad vykdoma „specialiojikarinėoperacija“. Pridursime, kad pranešdamas apie „operaciją“, saat the end of China Putin put a point and remained silent that this is an operation directed against another state, namely Ukraine. The objectives of demilitarisation and denazification were also mentioned. However, in this context it is precisely this grammatical structure that is important – the word “operation” has no suffix (Roščins 2022). DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 217 In one of his columns, the aforementioned Sandris Vanzovičius, using various euphemisms, ironicized the situation that Russia has put the democratic world into by starting a war in Europe without calling it a war: Nu Rietumu valstis centās labi ātri noformulēt, kā nosaukt karu Ukrainā, lai tikai to nenāktos saukt īstajā vārdā par karu – par militāruoperāciju, ummilitāruungenkonfliktu, ie armijasēmmācībāmņkaraenapstākļosevvai karaāizstrādājumu (Now the Western states were trying to quickly formulate how to call the war in Ukraine, so as not to have to call it by its real name – a military operation, a military conflict, military training in war conditions or a war product) (Vanzovičs 2022). However, later the situation began Iš pradžių viešajame diskurse būta sumišimo, vartoti eufemizmai dabartinė situacija Ukrainoje, paaštrėję kaimyninių valstybių santykiai, konfliktas. to be called by its real names: war, invasion, attacked by researchers associated with limu ir pan. Rusijoje vartoti žodį karas draudžiama, ir tai kai kurie opozicijos atstovai viešajame diskurse nurodo kaip eufemizmą vartodami žodžių junginį uždraustas žodis, pvz.: Феминизм как политическая сила <...> не может быть на стороне [запрещенноевРФслово] и тем более — [запрещенноевРФслово] оккупационной (Feminizmas kaip politinė jėga <...> negali pritarti [RF uždraustas žodis], juolab – okupaciniam [RF uždraustas žodis]). Galima sakyti, kad eufemizacija šio karo tema prasidėjo jau 2014 m., ir the occupation of Crimea. I. Smetonienė and D. Daučiūnaitė mention the international words sanctions, subjects, intervention, which appeared in the headlines of editorial articles in Lithuania, as euphemisms related to the occupation (Smetonienė, Daučiūnaitė 2014: 125–126). According to the researchers, they are not as well known to readers, some even incomprehensible, and therefore cause less negative reaction than the direct name of the phenomenon (Smetonienė, Daučiūnaitė 2014: 132), so international words perform the euphemism function perfectly. In addition to the euphemistical term military operation (Russian: военная операция), Putin also used two less commonly used, and therefore unusual and less understood international words: demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. The word denazification ‘measures to eliminate Nazism’ (BLKŽ) is related to the word Nazism ‘politics and ideology of the National Socialist Party, German fascism’ (DLKŽ). These concepts are used by experts from various countries and fields to explain the situation. Andis Kudoras, a Latvian political scientist, writes: The topic of fighting Nazism in Russia is convenient because of all the Soviet propaganda. And so they now go on to say that in Ukraine Russia is implementing denazification and demipropaganda. 218 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 litarizāciju (Kovos su nacizmu tema Rusijoje yra patogi dėl visos sovietmečio Therefore, they now continue it by saying that Russia is carrying out denazification and demilitarization in Ukraine) (Kudors 2022). Russian writer, journalist and oppositionist Yulia Latynina (Юлия Латынина), in response to Putin’s words, stated: У меня теперь есть надежда, что вместо денацификации Украины наступит депутинизация России (Now I have hope that instead of the denazification of Ukraine, there will be deputinization of Russia) (LatyninaTV 2022). Examples of propaganda language include euphemistical paraphrases – retellings in other words that are widely used by the official Russian media to describe the war in Ukraine. For example, the retreat and flight of the Russian army is described as follows: <...> проведена операцияпо свертываниюипереброске <...> войск на территорию ДНР, проведен рядотвлекающихидемонстрационныхмероприятийссообозначениемреальныхдействий войск (<...> carried out an operation of packing and transferring the army <...> to the territory of the DLR, using numerous distractions and demonstrations indicating the real actions of the army). The Ukrainian side laughs at such contradictory descriptions of the situation and ironically calls the retreat a negative attack (Russian: отрицательное наступление), and the sinking of warships a negative eruption (Russian: отрицательное всплытие), i.e. an action that is opposite to the submarine’s rise to the surface. In turn, Facebook mockers have put the following euphemistical phrase describing the Russian army’s run into the mouth of the official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Defence: враг с позором бежит за нами (the enemy shamefully runs after us). The ambitions of the Russian dictator, expressed in political euphemisms, are much wider. The Latvian online magazine Puaro (2022) analyzes Putin's knowledge. “The regime uses euphemisms extensively sisakymai, kuriuose jis prilygina save Rusijos carui Petrui I per Šiaurės karą, o dabartinį įsiveržimą į Ukrainą – to, kas priklausė Rusijai, susigrą- – moving borders or expanding territory marks the conquest of neighbours” (Veisbergs 2014). Conquest is not possible without an army, and it is formed by mobilizing both the inhabitants of their own state and the conquered lands. However, in this war of high casualties, mobilisation is ridiculously renamed mobilisation, a word that also shows a disphemic attitude, i.e. emphasises the absurdity of the process. Rita Urnėžiūtė (2022: 17) mentions this word as one of those that are borrowed in Lithuanian from Ukrainian or Russian languages and DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 219 adapted to Lithuanian grammar. The lexicon mogilizacija ‘mobilization (reservist conscription to military service) as a straight path to death (grave)’ is also included in the Lithuanian language new words database, indicating that it is a newly borrowed root word with an ironic expressive connotation from the Russian language могилизация < могила ‘grave’ + мобилизация ‘mobilization’ (LKND). The lexicon mogilizatsiya / mogilizaciya / могилизация in various languages can also be interpreted as created by phonetic deformation (one of the kinds of play language): by replacing the letter б (Latin b) of the term мобилизация / мобилизация with the letter г (Latin g), a word related to graves (Russian могила 'grave') is obtained. In ironizing on the topic of mogilization, Lithuanians on the social network Facebook also suggest Lithuanian new words: kapizacija31, kapavizacija, mobilizacija v grobove (< tombs), grabizacija, karstizacija (< grave, coffin), LADizacija, MOSKVizacija (< LADA, MOSKVIČ, i.e. car brands)32. Avoiding the words war and mobilization, Russia uses a whole host of false euphemisms to describe the soldiers who have died in Ukraine: Погиб в качестве акта доброй воли в ходе выполнения заданий в рамках спецоперации (Died in the course of a mission as an act of goodwill during a special operation). Such a text in the photo of the tombstone allows to draw parallels with the conclusions of the German literary scholar, writer and politician Victor Klemperer in his book LTI – Notizbuch eines Philologen (LTI – Notes of a Philosopher) published in 1947 about the language of the Third Reich. Discussing obituaries to “soldiers who died for the Führer and the Fatherland”, the author indicated several degrees of expression – from admiration to demonstration of ideological disapproval. “In order to show the highest degree of loyalty, it was written: ‘He died for his Führer’ <...>, and the Fatherland was not mentioned. <...> If someone was completely opposed to Nazism and wanted to express, show disapproval, perhaps even hatred, and at the same time not be in opposition, because courage does not go so far, the mourning message was formulated as follows: “Our only child died for the Fatherland”, and the Führer was not mentioned. <...> 31 This word is also included in the database of Lithuanian new words, with the same meaning as mogilizacija and the indication that it is a hybrid form, vertinimas (LKND). 32 The latter names are related to a story broadcast on Ukrainian television: the parents of a fallen Russian soldier bought his beloved LADA car for the compensation they received for their son’s death and now proudly drive to his grave. The social network Facebook jokes this theme further: the word son in various languages is similar (Ukrainian син, Polish syn, English son), and rusiškai – лaдa. 220 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 Pripažįstant netektį nebuvo leidžiama sėti nerimo tarp vietinių. Tokiais atvejais The stereotypical formula of the Third Reich was: "For tragic fate paid with his life..." (translated from Latvian, see Klemperers 2004: 126–127). Thus, in this war situation, Russia also uses lies and disinformation – talking both about its real actions and goals, and about the course of the war and the deaths in it. On the other hand, the Russian-induced war in the Baltic and other languages has activated the use of so-called sensitive words (e.g., occupation, occupy) by eliminating previously widespread euphemisms. After regaining their independence, the Baltic states tried to build respectful relations with their great neighbour, without mentioning past grievances. For example, Līga Romāne-Kalniņa, in her doctoral dissertation Construction and Representation of National Identity in the Speeches of the Presidents of the Baltic States: Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis, emphasizes that presidential speeches, especially immediately after the countries regained their independence in 1990, often used euphemisms, drawing on the common political past and trying to avoid mentioning the negative role of the Soviet Union and Russia in the history of the Baltic States (Romāne-Kalniņa 2022: 33). The euphemization of language, the submission took place at both the level of government and society. The reasons and consequences of such political correctness are analyzed by political scientist A. Kudoras: The reasons for the emergence of political correctness have not always been evil. In Europe we live close to each other – it’s not like living somewhere in the steppes. We are all squeezed together, and in order to live together, let’s try not to hurt each other. Unfortunately, we have gone to extremes not only in Latvia, but in Europe as a whole: people stop saying what they think. There is pretentiousness and hypocrisy (Politinio korektiškumo priežastys ne visada blogis. In Europe, we have lived close to each other – not somewhere in the steppes. We are all squeezed together, and in order to live together, we try not to catch each other. Unfortunately, not only in Latvia, but in Europe in general, we have gone to the extreme: people stop saying what they think. "There's Submission and Hypocrisy" (Kudors 2022). Pasak Līgos Romānės-Kalniņos, dabar kalbos eufemizacija komunikacijoje su Rusija jau nebevyksta: Lietuvos prezidentai po šalies nepriklausomybės atkūrimo 1990 metais dėjo daug vilčių į naują besiskleidžiančią Rusijos demokratiją, kuri leistų valstybėms bendradarbiauti, tačiau metams bėgant šios viltys išsisklaidė, ir tai patvirtina [prezidentų] kalbų lyginamąja analize nustatyti turinio, diskursinio ir lingvistinio matmenų pokyčiai (Romāne-Kalniņa 2022: 33). DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 221 3.2. Kariaujančias puses žymintys disfemizmai ir eufemizmai Universal dysphemisms are the lexicons fascists and Nazis (Nazis)33. The latter word is widely used in the official public discourse of Russia, linking it to the already mentioned denacification, even explaining that denacification means deukrainization. After the bombing of Kharkiv residential areas, Latynina ironized: Кто погиб, тот нацист (Who died, that Nazi) (LatyninaTV 2022). “The term ‘anti-Russian’ has a negative connotation and an ambiguous meaning Kryme ir jų nušvietimą žiniasklaidoje rašė: „Plačiausiai vartojami pavadinimai fašizmas ir fašistai. Žodis jau seniai rusų kalboje yra įgijęs labai – it is used to refer to anything that does not meet the wishes of the Kremlin, especially if something is perceived as anti-Russian” (Veisbergs 2014)34. Ukrainians and their allies often refer to the Russian invaders not only as fascists, but also as rašistai (a contamination made of the name of the state R-axis and the word f-axists). In the official Russian media and portals, Ukrainians and their allies are often referred to as fascists, Ukrainian fascists, passive Nazis and Nazi accomplices, Nazi regime, and in Russian as укронацики, секретные укро-фашистские лаборатории (secret Ukrofashist laboratories). It should be added that such vocabulary also enters the public discourse in other languages – it is used in articles printed on various internet portals, e.g.: lietuv. ukrofašistai (alfa.lt), latv. ukrofašisti (delfi.lv, la.lv). As disphemisms in public discourse both in Russia and in the occupied territories of Ukraine (since 2014) are used and distorted names of Ukraine or its inhabitants, for example, rus. Kpaiна; укропы (the second lexicon corresponds graphically and phonetically to the name of dill). Both of these disphemisms and the punches and word combinations formed with them were also used in the discourse of the COVID-19 pandemic, but only to denote one side – the persons and representatives of the authorities who support the official course of the states. Lietuv. fascists and Nazis are included in one of the articlerežimas’ and others. nyje jau minėtų R. Žiliukaitės sudarytų sąrašų, o latviškai užfiksuota tokių pavyzdžių: covidfašistu banda ‘COVID fašistų gauja’, „medicīniskā fašisma“ režīms ‘„medicininio fašizmo“ 34 It should be added here that even long before the annexation of Crimea, Putin was called Putler (< Put-in + Hitler-ler) because of his ambitions, and his supporters are called not only by disfemisms Putinists, Putinoid and so on, but also – putlerists, putleroids, putlerfascists. Šie pavadinimai savo aktualumo nėra praradę ir dabar. Savo ruožtu, Facebook naudotojai lietuviai vieną iš Rusijoje veikiančių pionierių organizacijų 2022 m. pavasarį praminė putinjugendu (pagal analogiją su hitlerjugendu). 222 GENERAL LANGUAGE | 95 se The derogatory name of Ukrainians oriented towards Western Europe used in social media is also used in Lithuanian online media, it is included in the Lithuanian language new words database as a loan, the derogatory expressive connotation having jargon (LKND). The Latvian lexicon ukropi was found in comments on internet news and social networks. Even sharper disphemisms are directed at representatives of other countries fighting alongside the defenders of Ukraine. The Donbass Analytical Service служба Донбасса) aiškina, kad, siekdami sustabdyti rusų ataką, ukrainiečiai meta į kovą menkavertes pajėgas – gruzinus, vakariečius ir panašias šiukšles (Russian: Донбасская аналитическая служба, tr. Analytical (Russian). They throw денцевиподобныймусор). Kita vertus, Ukrainos ir kitų šalių viešuosiuose diskursuose, be Rusijos kariuomenę tiesiogiai pavadinančių sąvokų Rusijos armija, okupantų armija, okupantai, okupantų kariuomenė, rusų okupantai, irgi netrūksta prieš agresorę nukreiptų disfemizmų, kurie yra deformuotas Rusijos pavadinimas, pvz., русня, arba leksemos, susijusios su agresyviomis, žiauriomis būtybėmis, pvz., orkai (rus. орки). Latvijos fantazijos ir fantastikos draugijos (latv. Latvijas Fantāzijas un fantastikas biedrība) svetainėje pateiktas toks verstinis precisely those forces, which are of little value to them – грузин,оззапаса interpretation of the term orks (Latvian: orki): various enduring human-like warrior creatures in works on fantasy themes. <...> Orcs are usually depicted as humans with innate defects, with tendencies to brutality, sadism, and fear <...>, as physically stronger or weaker than humans, but always gathered in large groups (Gustavsone 2022)35. The Lithuanian language new words database includes not only the lexicon orkas ‘Russian soldier – demoralized brutal aggressor in the Russian war in Ukraine in 2022ʼ, derived from English orc ‘representative of a race of fantastic creatures with brutal strength and low intelligence in works of magical fiction, especially J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Ringsʼ, but also contaminative derivatives with the derogatory expressive tone with the component ork-: orkupantas ‘demoralized brutal soldier from the Russian occupation army in the war in Ukraine in 2022ʼ (< ork-as +o-kupantas); orktarakonis ‘Russian soldier – demoralized brutal aggressor in the Russian war in Ukraine in 2022ʼ (< ork-as + tarakon-as + ending -is); Orkistan ‘the country inhabited by the Orcs (i.e. Russia)’ (LKND). The latter word is presented in this database as a newly borrowed root, with reference to 35 Translation from Russian before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 223 and other language equivalents: ukr. Orkistan; rus. orkistan. The other two lexicons are included in the database as derivatives of Lithuanian origin. Rita Urnėžiūtė also describes the word orkupantai as a wartime novelty reflecting Lithuanian reactions (2022: 18). However, the material collected by the authors of this article from other languages shows that the Lithuanian modern is only an ortho-translation (it is marked as “single” in the database and not found in other Internet sources in other languages), and the other two words are most likely borrowed from Russian, cf.: rus. Orkupants / orkupanti, latv. orkupants; latv. Are you also a victim of Orkist propaganda? (Are you also a victim of orkistani propaganda?). Another fictional euphemistical name for Russia, introduced as early as 2015, is Mordor (Russian: Мопдор, Latvian: Mordora), the country of evil. In the first days of March, a large crowd of people in Melitopol, occupied by the Russian army, expressed their views on the "orcs robbers". Later that month, the Ukrainian Defence Minister promised in an official speech that Ukrainian soldiers would “resist the Mordor attack” (Lelou 2022). The phrase is vivid, and the allusion to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is used to create it: Vai tās būtu ukraiņu amatpersonu runas, preses izdevumi vai sociālās platformas, šis salīdzinājums parādās ik uz soļa: mierīgā, „Gredzenu pavēlniekā” aprakstītajai Dalienai līdzīgā Ukraina aizstāvas pret tīro ļaunumu, Mordoras karapūļiem līdzīgo Krievijas armiju, ko no Maskavas vada Sauronaālīdzinieks Vladimirs Putins (Whether it be the speeches of Ukrainian officials, press publications, or social platforms, this comparison appears at every turn: peaceful, like the Daliena described in The Lord of the Rings, Ukraine defends itself against pure evil, against the Mordor-like Russian army, which is led from Moscow by Vladimir Putin, the reborn Sauron). This is evident from the article by Lithuanian philosopher Algis Geducius about how conspiracy (Lelū 2022). COVID-19 pandemijos metu Latvijoje asociacijas su J. Rowling romanų theories are born: It is obvious that the current Voldemort avatar does not care about the zigzags in Ukraine, Africa, let alone Russia or anywhere else in the world. Yes, Voldemort has returned and gyveno mūsų rytinėje kaimynėje, o jo slapyvardis Vladimiras (Gedutis 2022). 224 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 The Ukrainian soldiers divided the mobilized Russian soldiers fighting on the front into two groups – mobics and chmobiks36. The euphemism čmobiki (Latvian: čmobiki, Russian: чмобики) corresponds to the first letter of the Russian word частично, meaning 'partially', and is used to describe those who are called to war under partial mobilization. I. Smetonienė and D. Daučiūnaitė (2014: 127–128) have also written about the replacement of the word „karai“ with other words as a political euphemism. However, the word чмобики can also be interpreted as a disfeminist derivative of the Russian word чмо37. Compared to the harsh disphemisms used by both warring sides against each other, simple seem familiar concepts – euphemisms denoting binary opposition good guys and bad guys, which has been used in his Twitter account by one of the four initiators of the campaign Twitter convoy in Latvia, public relations consultant Reinis Pozņaks: Nenogurdināmie lielceļu lauvas ziņo, ka Tvitera konvojs vai 21 vienību nogādāts pāri robežai un nodots labajiem, lai tie sadod ļaunajiem. Glory to Ukraine! (Relentless highway lions report that a 21-unit tweeter convoy has been transported across the border and handed over to the good guys to strip the bad guys. Glory to Ukraine! (ir.lv). SUMMARY The pandemic that shook the world in 2020 divided society according to people’s attitudes to the virus, and later to vaccination against the virus. The state of emergency declared several times due to the pandemic, which was called quarantine in Lithuania, “sitting at home” (mājsēde; here also periodically applying curfew) in Latvia, was associated with movement restrictions, which caused considerable dissatisfaction in part of the public. As the vaccination campaign progressed, the public became even more divided into two irreconcilable camps: those who supported the vaccination and those who opposed it. 36 These names were explained by Captain Jānis Slaidiņis of the Latvian National Armed Forces in a special programme on the Russian-instigated war on the commercial media TV24: “Mobikas are those who are in Luhansk and Donetsk as regular forces, and čmobikai are those who are being called up now” (Slaidiņš 2022). 37 Cf. Latvian slang – disphemism čmo ‘dirty man who wanders around landfills’ (Tēzaurs). In the Lithuanian language new words database is also included the contamination structure čmobilizacija ‘partial mobilization declared in Russia during the war with Ukraine, during which unprepared and unmoral men are taken to war’ with the origin indication: „Russian, чмобилизация < частичная мобилизация ‘partial mobilization’; Pg. chmo žarg. ‘physically and morally declined person, “dung”’ (LKND). But plg. R. Urnėžiūtė (2022: 18) publication about Facebook users’ Lithuanian attempts to translate ironic Ukrainian or Russian ginning of the war. However, in the democratic world, as well as in Ukraine, Russia‘s official euphemistic style of speech has been met with ridicule, leading to the creation of new dūrinius, tarp jų rus. bomžgvardija – versta vargetarmija. DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 231 euphemisms and dysphemisms. During situations of physical aggression, both sides also use verbal aggression and irony. Thus, the usage of political euphemisms and dysphemisms will not see any sort of decline, especially in a state of war. The euphemisms and dysphemisms featured in the article are used to designate said events – the pandemic and the war in Ukraine – in the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian languages. A juxtaposition of the specific euphemisms and dysphemisms has established that some of them are common in both discourses: that of the pandemic and of the war (for example, Voldemort: ‘something that others are afraid to call by its real name’, putinistai // putleristai // vatnikai: ‘users and disseminators of Russian propaganda’). Only with the discourse of COVID-19, the universal dysphemism is covidiot, which is widely used to describe any person who, during the pandemic, behaves differently than the person using this dysphemism acts or thinks. However, used dysphemically, lexemes fascists, Nazis are considered universal only in the discourse of the war in Ukraine, because the two warring sides apply them and derivatives and compounds thereof (e.g., Ukrofascists, Nazi regime vs. Fascists, ruscists) with reference to one another. In the discourse of the pandemic, derivatives and compounds with these lexemes (e.g. Latvian covidfašistu banda ‘covid-fascist gang’) were applied only to government representatives and persons supporting the official line of the state (the alleged ‘dictatorship’). Various new words (situational dysphemisms) have also been created to describe the realities of both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. A comparison of material from the three languages highlights both the universal nature of the reviewed language phenomena, and the possibility of their adoption. KEywOrDS: euphemisms, dysphemisms, COVID-19 pandemic, war, public discourse. DITE LIEPA LU Latviešu valodas institūts, Rīga, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, LV-1050, Latvija [email protected] Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte Rīga, Dzirciema iela 16, C korp. 1B kab., LV-1007, Latvija [email protected] EVIJA LIPARTE [email protected] 232 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE COVID-19 PANDEMIJA IR KARAS UKRAINOJE: EUFEMIZMŲ IR DISFEMIZMŲ VARTOJIMAS IN PUBLIC DISCURSE LATVIAN, LITHUANIAN AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES Summary The third decade of the 21st century has begun with new challenges for humanity – the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-instigated war in Ukraine. These global events of the last three years have also affected the use of language: in a democratic society about what vyksta, reikia kalbėti, aiškinti ir informuoti, be to, kalba į šiuos įvykius aktyviai reaguoja. The pandemic divided society according to people’s attitude to the virus: its supporters and denier. With the start of vaccination, the public has become even more divided into two irreconcilable camps: vaccine supporters and deniers. New words appeared in the language, emotional expressiveness and verbal aggression increased, and two polar means of language – euphemisms and disphemisms – were widely used to describe opposite sides. Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic ended, the world was shaken by another tragedy – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The brutal war and the Ukrainians’ fierce resistance have intensified the use of euphemisms and especially political disphemisms. For a long time (after the collapse of the USSR and the restoration of independence in Latvia and Lithuania) the latter were in the passive layer of the lexicon. The empirical material of the article shows that one side tries to call things by their real names, not avoiding various disphemisms, while the other side does it selectively, using lies and disinformation, using both euphemisms and disphemisms, trying to force everyone to use them at the beginning of the war. However, in the democratic world, including Ukraine, Russia’s official euphemistical language style is being ridiculed, and new euphemisms and disphemisms are being born. In the context of physical aggression, both sides use both verbal aggression and irony. Thus, the use of political euphemisms and disphemisms, especially in wartime, will not decrease. The euphemisms and disphemisms included in the article refer to the aforementioned events – the pandemic eufemizmus ir disfemizmus, konstatuota, kad kai kurie iš jų yra bendri abiejuose – ir pandemijos, ir karo diskursuose (pvz.: Voldemortas ‘kažkas, ko bijoma and the war in Ukraine – in Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian. In comparison, to call specifics by their real namesʼ; Putinists, Putlerists, Vatnaics ‘the consumers and disseminators of Russian propaganda’). Only in the COVID-19 discourse is the disfeminism kovidota universal, widely applied to describe any person who behaves or vartojamos leksemos fašistai, nacistai laikomos universaliomis tik karo Ukrainoje DITE LIEPA, EVIJA LIPARTE. CoVID-19 pandemija ir karas Ukrainoje: eufemizmų ir disfemizmų vartojimas viešajame diskurse latvių, lietuvių ir rusų kalbose 233 thinks differently during the pandemic than the person using the disfeminism. Disphemistically in the discourse, because they and derivatives and compounds with them (e.g., ukrofascists, Nazi regime vs. fascists, rašistas) are applied to each other by both warring sides. In the pandemic discourse, verbs and compounds with these lexicons (e.g., latvian covidfascist gang) were used only to name representatives of the government and individuals supporting the official course of the states (allegedly, dictatorship). Various new terms (situational disphemisms) have been created to describe the realities of both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. By comparing the material of three languages, the universality of the language phenomena and the possibility of their replication are highlighted. ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: eufemizmai, disfemizmai, COVID-19 pandemija, karas, viešasis diskursas. DITE LIEPA LU Latviešu valodas institūts, Rīga, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, LV-1050, Latvija [email protected] Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte Rīga, Dzirciema iela 16, C korp. 1B kab., LV-1007, Latvija [email protected] EVIJA LIPARTE [email protected]