Critical discourse analysis of Noam Chomsky’s discourse in times of russia’s war against Ukraine 

Abstract.

CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF NOAM CHOMSKY’S DISCOURSE IN TIMES OF RUSSIA’S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE

Iryna Biskub

Department of Applied Linguistics, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Lutsk, Ukraine.

Abstract

Background: At the times of Russia's full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, research designed to unite the scientific community of Ukraine around the preservation of common national interests becomes especially relevant. A new interdisciplinary method of linguistic research – critical discourse analysis (CDA) makes it possible to systematically analyze the media space of the Russian-Ukrainian war and establish the semantic dominants and ideological presuppositions of the war discourse. It is important that the modern scientific research of Ukrainian scientists is clearly aimed at supporting the national and security priorities of Ukraine in times of war.

The urgency of conducting a critical analysis of the discourse of the world's leading politicians, intellectuals, and opinion leaders is determined by the need to shape public opinion and raise awareness in order to support Ukraine and condemn Russia's aggressive military actions against our independent state. The analysis of ideological presuppositions of influential people makes it possible to reveal the level of their commitment to democratic values and readiness to support Ukraine in the media and scientific space.

Purpose: The article aims at making a critical analysis of the discourse of the leading American linguist, philosopher, political and public figure Noam Chomsky based on his interviews concerning Russia's war in Ukraine in 2014-2022. The purpose of the research was to uncover his real attitudes and hidden meanings regarding war, which he shares with the global audience.

Results: We have identified key macrostructures, local discursive meanings and main ideological presuppositions that characterize N. Chomsky's attitude to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. It has been established that, skillfully using the principles of discursive manipulations and his global popularity, N. Chomsky shares the ideas of justifying Russia's aggressive military actions, the secondary role of Ukraine in the confrontation with Russia, and Ukraine’s inability to win in this bloody war. A critical reading of N. Chomsky's publications made it possible to reveal his latent calls for peace negotiations with Russia and criticism of US mainstream policy, which, according to N. Chomsky, is the real reason of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Discussion: The critical analysis of N. Chomsky's discourse during Russia's war against Ukraine proved the lack of logic and the one-sided engagement of one of the world’s leading opinion leaders, who for decades positioned himself as a defender of democracy. The unwillingness of the author of brilliant scientific theories to finally see the truth and understand that in this war real democracy is exclusively on the side of Ukraine and Ukrainians, who, like any nation, have the right to self-determination, and the right to the existence of their own sovereign state, causes regret and sadness. We strongly believe that in the future N. Chomsky will open his eyes and switch to supporting Ukraine in our fight for independence.

Keywords: discourse, critical analysis of discourse, ideology, local meanings, Noam Chomsky.

Vitae

Iryna Biskub, doctor of philology, professor, Head of Applied Linguistics department at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Lutsk, Ukraine. Research interests: applied linguistics, discourse analysis, communicative linguistics, cognitive linguistics, philosophy of language.

Correspondence: ibiskub@vnu.edu.ua 

Article.

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