Language innovations of war: Ukrainian military neosemantisms and their translation into German 

Abstract.

Language innovations of war: ukrainian military neosemantisms and their translation into german

Olena Biletska

Department of Romance and Germanic Philology and World Literature, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Abstract

Background: Background: Ukrainian military terminology has deep historical roots and ranks among the oldest terminological systems of the Ukrainian language. Since the onset of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, and especially after the full-scale invasion of 2022 the system has been rapidly replenished with neosemanticisms, a substantial share of which is colloquial military jargon. In this context, military jargon performs not only a communicative but also an identification function: it ensures linguistic economy, fosters a sense of group solidarity, and enables speakers to encode an emotional stance toward the realities of war. The translation of neosemanticisms constitutes one of the most challenging areas of contemporary translation studies, since in the case of military jargon the pronounced imagery and high degree of stylistic markedness of the units involved pose additional difficulties.

Purpose: The purpose of the research is to analyze the semantics of Ukrainian military neosemanticisms and to study the ways of their translation into German.

Results: The analysis of the corpus of Ukrainian military neosemanticisms has revealed several key regularities. The most productive domain comprises designations of weapons and munitions, reflecting the communicative need of the military to name items of immediate operational relevance. A substantial layer also includes designations of persons, which convey evaluative characteristics and the social dynamics within the military community. The majority of neosemanticisms arise through metaphorical transfer (by similarity of external form, internal properties, function, or process) which corroborates the theory of cognitive metaphor. Jargon units are marked by emotionality, irony, and pragmatic polyfunctionality; in translation, this markedness is often attenuated. Rendering jargon into another language invariably requires a balance between preserving cultural–linguistic specificity and achieving intelligibility for the target audience. The most frequent strategies for translating Ukrainian military neosemanticisms are neutral dictionary equivalents, approximate renderings, and descriptive translation; by contrast, transcription/transliteration and calquing are employed primarily to retain cultural coloring.

      Discussion: The translation of Ukrainian military jargon neosemanticisms into German is a multidimensional task that requires balancing accuracy with pragmatic adequacy. Neosemanticisms reflect dynamic processes of semantic derivation that emerge under crisis conditions. Their translation demands from the translator a deep understanding of cultural context. No single strategy is universally applicable; the most effective approach is a flexible combination of methods: established equivalents for conventionalized terms; descriptive translation for novel or highly specific phenomena; and transcription or calquing to preserve cultural markers. The translator functions not only as a mediator between languages but also as an interpreter of cultural codes. The task is to balance the intelligibility of the lexical item for the German-speaking addressee with the preservation of the stylistic coloring of the source text. Thus, the translation of Ukrainian military jargon is not merely a linguistic problem but also a sociocultural undertaking that necessitates an interdisciplinary approach.

Keywords: military term, military jargon, secondary nomination, neosemanticism, semantics, imagery, translation.

Vitae

Olena Biletska is Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor at the Department of Romance and Germanic Philology and World Literature, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University.

Correspondence: o.biletska@donnu.edu.ua

Article.

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