LINGUO-AXIOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE WASHINGTON POST’S WAR NARRATIVE ON RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN CONFLICT
LINGUO-AXIOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE WASHINGTON POST’S WAR NARRATIVE ON RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN CONFLICT

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the concept of war narrative, a discursive construct intrinsically linked to military and media discourse. We define war narrative as a narrative form that (1) represents armed conflict through narration and persuasion strategies, (2) elucidates conflict logic, and (3) proposes argumentative and axiological interpretations to influence audiences. Our research investigates the axiological modality expressed in the Washington Post’s war narrative, analyzing key rhetorical devices such as metaphor, metonymy, euphemism, logical attribution, and irony. Particular attention is given to evidentiality strategies, which delineate authorial voice from reported information. The analysis of evidentiality is conducted along two axes: morphological-syntactic and lexical-semantic. The former yields a typology of syntactic structures in complex sentences with indirect discourse, revealing narrative flexibility in service of pragmatic goals. The latter identifies lexical markers indicating the provenance of reported information. This dual approach illuminates the multifaceted role of values within the Washington Post’s war narrative, contributing to our understanding of how media discourse shapes public perception of armed conflicts. Our findings have implications for the study of journalistic practices, narrative theory, and the intersection of linguistics and media studies in conflict reporting.

• Details
• Contents