Prof. Dr. Larysa Makaruk

Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Ukraine

CV: Larysa Makaruk is Professor of Applied Linguistics Department at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Ukraine, she is member of the Young Scientist Council at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In 2014-2020 she was responsible for the preparation and publication of linguistic journals at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Ukraine. In 2019-2021 she was the president of the Young Scientist Council at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Ukraine. In 2013-2019 she was the head of the undergraduate and postgraduate student research society at the Faculty of Foreign Philology and the person responsible for official research work undertaken within the Faculty. She is an active participant of many events related to the research activities organized in Ukraine and abroad. 

All her research papers have been connected with the general topic of multimodality. Her theses are devoted to the usage of verbal and non-verbal devices as can be seen in various types of mass media discourse. For the past three years she has been dealing with the short-format texts related to COVID –19. At the present time she is studying cartoons in mass-media sources which are connected with the war which was launched against Ukraine in 2022.

Presentation title: Multimodal stylistic devices in cartoons as powerful tools for depicting the present war in ukraine

Abstract: In a sense, it may be argued that the tragic and outrageous circumstances of Russia’s assault on Ukrainian sovereignty has had the unanticipated result of stimulating cartoonists all over the world to portray various aspects of this new conflict-related situation, utilizing the many multimodal possibilities offered within their chosen medium of expression. These multimodal stylistic devices include several classes of pictorial metaphors as differentiated by scholars: those of the contextual variety, the hybrid variety, and the simile variety; and multimodal metaphor of the verbo-pictorial variety and integrated metaphor (product metaphor).

A large number of cartoonists from various countries create images of Russia as personified by a bear: this corresponds both to the well-known image for Russia which has been in use since the 16th century, and to the predatory behaviour of Putin’s Russia in terms of the recent invasion. Using this image as a starting point, various cartoonists build on it to illustrate metaphorically the actions of Russia.

The goal of this study is to provide an analysis of a selected set of political cartoons dealing with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, taken from a variety of sources around the world. Our objective is partly to obtain an overview of the opinions held by foreign observers with regard to the relations between Russia and Ukraine at various stages of recent history, but even more than that, to present an enumeration and a classification of various stylistic devices that have been utilized in these cartoons. These devices make it possible for the cartoonists to instantly and effectively present specific aspects of the conflict, as well as the notable individuals involved in it.