REPRESENTATION OF THE EMOTION OF FEAR IN THE DIARY “MARIUPOL. HOPE” BY NADIIA SUKHORUKOVA

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of linguistic means of representing the emotion of fear in the diary «Mariupol. Hope», written on social media during the first months of the city’s blockade in 2022 by Mariupol journalist Nadiia Sukhorukova. It has been established that despite the polysemy of the lexeme, fear is described as a primary, basic emotion that enables a person to avoid danger and survive.The linguistic means of representing the emotion of fear have been identified, including primary nominations (страх, жах, жахіття), adjectival epithets (дикий, липкий, неймовірний, смертельний, тваринний, тупий), verbal nominations (боятися, жахати, лякати) and adverbial nominations (лячно, страшно, моторошно).The main fear activators have been considered, among which are: threats to health and life, lack of communication with relatives and loved ones, uncertainty, etc. Their verbalization is characterized by a combination of nominative and descriptive modes of representation.The manifestation of fear is conveyed through a detailed depiction of emotional and behavioral reactions accompanied by significant changes in the physiological and psychological state of a person. The diary entries contain descriptions of various vegetative changes caused by the experience of fear: body trembling, changes in heart function, breathing rhythm disturbances, sensations of cold, body numbness, etc. In the linguistic representation of this emotion, several reactions are often combined and manifested simultaneously, creating a complex image of the individual’s internal state.Fear may lead to the emergence of such behavioral states as panic, stupor, and apathy. To describe these conditions, Nadiia Sukhorukova employs verbs from different lexico-semantic groups (existence, speech activity, psycho-emotional manifestation, sensory action, etc.), descriptive constructions, and metaphorical imagery. At the syntactic level, the diary predominantly features short, fragmentary sentences that reproduce the tense emotional rhythm of experiences.