Language plays a critical role in how conflict is mediated, experienced, and represented. People grappling with grim realities, such as the unfolding war in Ukraine, utilize language for a multitude of purposes, from a weapon to a coping tool. Drawing its data from computer-mediated communication in Ukraine, this book is an investigation of the conscious and strategic use of linguistic resources in antagonistic discourse.

Focusing on the new and creative uses of language in the discourse of conflict, the book touches upon several aspects in its treatment of innovation in the discourse of crisis, such as verbal aggression, linguistic creativity, the interaction between linguistic and extralinguistic factors in communication, and the “extravagance” of message presentation. It approaches the relationship of conflict and language from two main vantage points: how conflict is presented in the discourse under study through various linguistic means, and how it shapes communication while serving as a driving force of creative language use. In doing so, it highlights prominent features of communication devoted to the conflict in the major domains of linguistics: phonology, morphosyntax, and semantics. It also describes some of the cognitive mechanisms employed in manipulation during the crisis, such as framing and metaphorization.