Cognitive Linguistics Explains What Happened to the Russian Tank

Abstract

Usage-based models that underlie cognitive approach to language and grammar imply investigation of language as a dynamic tool used  in interpersonal communication rather than as an abstract system of signs. Hence the linguists’ interest in the language of social and mass media, with its focus upon real current situations and events. One of such events, reported by journalists and widely commented upon, was an incident that occurred in Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion of 24 February 2022. In one of the villages in the battle zone a group of Ukrainian civilians seized a tank from the Russian army. In the internet, the news soon became a hit and was translated into several languages.

Focusing upon Polish, the analysis presented in the paper will  show the relation between the form of those messages and their epistemological value. In the case study I will use the concept of the linguistic worldview combined with that of conceptual integration, thus substantiating the claim that theoretical framework offered by Cognitive Linguistics can be profitably used to describe, to optimize and to operationalize acts of linguistic communication.