Lexical variation in the language of the Ukrainian press of the 1920s-1940s

The paper presents a comparative corpus-based research of the vocabulary in the Ukrainian newspapers of the interwar period and the first Post–World War II years. The research aims to show the ways in which a new lexical norm for journalism was formed in 1940s. The paper envisages this new norm with regard to the influence of the Western and the Eastern Ukrainian language standards and of the Russian influence as well. Three corpora of newspaper texts have been built that represent different variants of Standard Ukrainian: 1) the Soviet newspaper texts of 1919–1933 up to the end of the Ukrainization; 2) the Western Ukrainian pre-Soviet and ‟inter-Soviet” newspaper texts of 1937–1943; 3) the Western Ukrainian Soviet newspaper texts of 1939–1946. For each of these, frequency lists were built. Our conclusions are based on comparing these lists. We have built a table showing changes (including frequency changes) within 120 semantic fields of synonyms. Our research showed that the new lexical norm that was formed in the Soviet journalism of 1940s had an Eastern Ukrainian basis. The regional Western vocabulary attested in the pre-Soviet and ‟inter-Soviet” Western Ukrainian newspapers had almost no trace in the new lexical norm. Neither did the Western lexical units that remind the Russian ones (upadok ʽdecline’, oba ʽboth’ etc.), a fact showing that the growth of the Russian influence was implemented only with the support of the Eastern variant. Several changes are attested within the synonymous fields (more often they shrink) and changes in the frequency of different synonyms, more often favouring the cognates of Russian words, although some cases go against this tendency. The Ukrainian language as attested in the Soviet newspaper texts of the 1940s keeps the bulk of its lexical basis; the Russification trend is superficial and in many cases rather brief. As it is shown by comparing the vocabulary of these texts with the modern norm, many Russian borrowings of the 1930s and 1940s did not find their way into the standard language.

Genre Creation and Genre Formation

The article focuses on the topic of genre formation in Soviet journalism, and how genres have developed in the contemporary Russian mass media. The author is of the view that journalistic genres developed intuitively, rather than on the basis of a thorough investigation of the typology of mass media texts, and therefore bear all the hallmarks of a professional agreement. These practical, formally logical standards have no basis in scholarship, and as a result many publications dealing with questions of journalistic genres have no connection with the theory of journalism. They merely serve the «commonly accepted professional view» of the form that texts should take. This explains why there is continual discussion of the interaction, diffusion, mimicry and changes in the «identified genres» in a situation where there are no grounds for distinguishing between them, or fixed criteria for defining them. Introducing American forms of journalistic texts into the Russian genre system leads to an even greater entropy of established concepts. Concentrating on the study of the genre forms of journalistic texts in journalism education often hinders students in the acquisition of the habit of writing materials on specific thematic issues.

Overcoming the Genre System of the “Thick Journal” as a Socio-political Construction: Referring to One Publication by S. Averintsev

One of the first publications of religious and philosophical content in the Soviet press was a two-part article by S. S. Averintsev, dedicated to a comparative study of Byzantine, Old Russian, and Western spirituality, with the appendix of a new translation of psalms. The publication of special and methodically-verified arguments in the popular thick magazine was caused by the softening of church-state relations, but the significance of this publication exceeds its thematic side. In this publication, Averintsev undertook a revision of the system of genres and censorship strategies on which the industry of the Soviet thick journal and broader Soviet literature rested. Such a radical rollover of the usual framework for the production of the text was supported by the originality of the translation and by most of the arguments of the article. Some of the reasoning was not directly aimed at individual statements, but at criticizing Soviet literary production. Such a radical project allowed Averintsev to justify his own socio-political program, despite the fact that he did not work in the social sciences. However, a hidden intention against both Soviet journalism and Russian idealistic thought, and the liberal program of Georgy Fedotov in particular, which was blamed as ideologically dependent on the forms of old journalism, allowed Averintsev to develop a series of productive ideas about the political boundaries that could become the basis of the post-Soviet discussion about the mission and liability of the political class.

The Problem of Truth in Journalism on the Verge of Epochs

The present article presents the results of a historiographical study of truth in Ukrainian journalism in the transition period from Soviet to post-Soviet journalism. The research relevance is associated with the growing crisis of truth as a communication category and the advent of the post-truth era globally. In order to solve the complex problem of truth in social communication and journalism, the study aims to clarify the components of the truth problem in Ukrainian journalism at the change of the Soviet and post-Soviet eras and to identify causal patterns of truth transformation as well as social consequences of this process. Methodologically, the study is based on analysis of research on the truth phenomenon within the framework of the social communication approach. I reveal four components of the truth problem: “understanding the truth”, “establishing the truth”, “telling the truth”, “perceiving the truth”. Attention is drawn to a theoretical error regarding truthfulness in journalism and its social consequences. The study makes conclusions about the need for: recognizing truth as the key axiological and communication category; ; inquiry into the spiritual discourse of truth as one of the ways of scientific cognition of truth in order to extrapolate the results in the social communication and journalism; formation of a truth-oriented position of the journalist through journalism education.

Truth in soviet journalism: imitation, manipulations, consequences

The article deals with four aspects of the problem of truth in journalism of the Soviet era and their consequences in post-Soviet times: the problem of understanding the essence of the phenomenon, finding the truth in concrete situations, truth-telling by mass media to society, perception of the truth by the audience and social reflection. The methods, forms and means of the influence of Soviet journalism on the society are analyzed. The general scientific methods (analysis, deduction, induction, generalization) and the strategy of the substantiated theory are used. The results of the research have scientific and practical significance, they reveal the causes of certain social and communicative consequences of the controlled interaction of the society with the media, transformation of moral and ethical values and concepts, and provide research material on the methodology and technology of mass communication impacts. The author concludes about the need to return society as a whole, and journalism in particular, to understanding, perception of the essential meanings of the truth, in particular its metaphysical nature, and the formation of truth-centered socially responsible position of the journalist.

Тhe specifics of creating an image of Вelarus in literary reports on the wandering subjects of the 1920 30's.

The article deals with the extraordinary spread of literary reporting on wandering subjects, which became a part of Ukrainian Soviet journalism during the period of national and cultural revival, named «rooting». The reports of Mykhailo Bykovets «On Red Belarus» and Arkadiy Lubchenko «The Blue-eyed Sister of Ukraine» are thoroughly analyzed. It was written after delegations of Ukrainian writers and journalists visited in the late 1920 Soviet Belarus. The object of characterization in the article was the authors' impressions of the reforms of Soviet power in the economic, political, social and cultural life of the republic. It is noted much about attention in the collections of reports focused on Ukrainian Belarusian cultural relations, establishing direct contacts between writers, the highest result of which was the publication of the almanac «New Belarus», which included works by 30 Belarusian writers in translations. Among them S. Pylypenko, P. Tychyny, V. Sosyury, I. Kulik, T. Masenko, A. Paniv and others. The main emphasis of the study is that the characteristic feature of the reports «On Red Belarus» by M. Bykovets and «The Blue-eyed Sister of Ukraine» by A. Lubchenko is an attraction to fragmentation. The text of the report «On Red Belarus» is divided into fifteen parts, but retains its integrity due to the presentation of information from 1 person. It is noted that the chronological type of composition chosen by the journalist allows not only to describe events, but also to share their own impressions and thoughts from what they saw. Traveling reports of the reporter often consist of fixing all the little things that reproduce the unique Belarusian color. It is emphasized that the language of the reports «On Red Belarus» by M. Bykovets and «Blue-eyed Sister of Ukraine» by A. Lubchenko is extremely simple, unformalized. It seems that journalists are talk to their readers and bring the necessary information to him. The authors try to make their reports as interesting as possible for the reader. That is why they introduce into the texts details that make them more interesting and on the other hand, distract readers from the monotonous and chronic description of the journey itself. The literary reports on the wandering theme of A. Lubchenko and M. Bykovets, despite the ninety years since their writing, are read with interest and are relevant today, because they are interesting, informative, fascinating, attract contemporary readers with fresh sensations, intriguing presentation of experiences and seen, and show a picture of the life of Soviet Belarus in the 1920 and 1930.