The Covid Pandemic and the War in Ukraine: The Usage of Euphemisms and Dysphemisms in Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian Public Discourse

Abstract

This article covers two lexical categories: euphemisms and dysphemisms in two major global events that shook the world since 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and the war that Russia started in Ukraine. The euphemisms and dysphemisms featured in the article are used to designate said events in the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian languages. For the lexical analysis of both the vocabulary of the pandemic period and that of the wartime were selected two lexical groups: (1) words that describe COVID-19 and the sides of the society divided; (2) lexemes used to designate the Russia-Ukraine war and the words that describe the warring sides.