Appellative Derivatives from Proper Names in the Focus of Mass Media Communication: Semantics, Structure, Stylistics, Pragmatics

Abstract

Introduction. The article emphasizes that media discourse promptly and systematically registers the changes taking place in society, interpreting them as established facts supported by irrefutable arguments, as multifaceted emotional phenomena requiring clarification and specification, or as arguments grounded in weighty or incontestable assertions or refutations. The object of the study is а specific layer of deonymic appellatives that undergo derivational, graphic, and orthographic transformation, thereby acquiring a marked connotative specification, predominantly of a negative evaluative nature. Purpose. The aim of the article is to provide а comprehensive analysis of the informative significance and the semantic-connotative potential of appellatives formed on the basis of the precedent anthroponym Yermak as the first component of the anthroponymic formula Yermak Andrii Borysovych within the structure of media discourse from 2019 to early 2026. Results. The main focus і5 placed on determining the role and positicn of the analyzed deproprial units within various genre-specific media discourses. The invariant meaning of the derived lexical units has been identified; the semantic content of specific representatives of the “onym ? appellative” model has been characterized; and the specified or modificational meanings assigned to them have been distinguished. In media space, these meanings emerge as individual or collective reflections on A. Yermak as a politician, a state official, and a person who has illegitimately expanded the scope of his authority. Hyperonymic-hyponymic, derivational, variant, isofunctional, and synonymic relations and connections existing among the appellative units have been established. The amplitude of pejorativity and the linguistic means of its explication have been analyzed. It has been demonstrated that the formation of the semantic-connotative potential of the precedent name A. Yermak in media discourse is influenced by both intralingual and extralingual factors, with the latter showing particular relevance. Conclusion. Specific representatives of the “onym ? appellative” model not only nominate a concrete or generalized personality but also construct the factual basis of the reported content, persuasively argue its strategic mini-narratives, and focus valuable information about the synchronic cross-section of Ukrainian history—its contemporary period. Deproprial derivative units are endowed with multifunctional properties: they serve not only as semantic dominants but also as connotative indicators and characterizing factors of the precedent personality.