TRANSFORMATIONS OF OF LANGUAGE NORMS IN UKRAINIAN MEDIA: CHALLENGES FOR EDITORIAL PRACTICE

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive study of the transformative role of the editor as a key agent in the formation and stabilization of linguistic norms in the contemporary media space. The relevance of this work is determined by the paradigm shift in “language fashion legislation”, where journalists have replaced writers, as their texts have a direct and immediate impact on everyday speech in society. The authors argue that modern editorial activity goes beyond technical correction of errors and takes on the characteristics of strategic linguistic moderation. The study is based on an analysis of publications in Ukrainian media resources for the period 2023–2025, in particular leading online publications and Internet versions of print media. The work pays particular attention to the problem of variability, where the editor acts as an arbiter who establishes the internal norms of the publication (style guide), ensuring a balance between national identity and global integration. The analysis identifies four levels of editorial influence on media texts: linguistic control, stylistic modeling, ethical responsibility, and globalization filter. Specific cases demonstrate the superiority of the method of systematic analogy and corpus linguistics in determining the normativity of the latest borrowings. The problem of unjustified “hypercorrection”, which contradicts current spelling rules, is highlighted separately. The authors emphasize the strengthening of the ethical function of the editor in the context of full-scale war, where accuracy of terminology and prevention of hate speech become elements of state information security. A multi-component model of editorial activity is proposed, which includes regulatory, innovative, ethical, educational, and communicative-strategic functions. It is concluded that it is through editorial practice that the mechanism for stabilizing and updating language norms in public discourse is implemented