Collocations of military semantics in non-military discourse as a reflection of linguistic and mental trends
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24866/2949-2580/2025-3/119-129Keywords:
combinatorial linguistics, collocations, militaristic mentality, militaristic discourse, English-language media, linguomental trendsAbstract
The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the functioning of recurrent English-language collocations of military semantics, reflecting modern linguistic and discursive-pragmatic trends. The material was the discourses of modern English-language media resources for the years 2010–2025 (“The Diplomat”, “The Global Times”, “The China Daily”, “The Wall Street Journal”, “The Daily Mail”, “Stanford Cyber Policy Center”, “The Grayzone”, etc.). The research methodology integrates the principles of combinatorial linguistics and discourse studies. It has been revealed that English-language collocations with military semantics, expanding their paradigmatic rows through synonymous, adjacent, or semantically specific collocations, demonstrate a tendency towards further derivation of already terminologized nuclear collocations, forming a more detailed conceptual development of the amalgam of the military and non-military spheres. The linguistic and mental trends identified in the discourses of English-language media resources can be characterized as the mass consciousness's habituation to militaristic images in non-militaristic spheres.
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