On verbal correction of world picture

Statement of the problem. Vocabulary is a level of language that is directly related to the reality surrounding people and their inner world. Activation of the use of certain lexemes can affect the consciousness of a native speaker and program their behavior in various situations. The advance preparation of the addressee for the necessary action is manifested in the correction of the linguistic picture of the world, which allows achieving the goals of information and psychological warfare: substitution of traditional axiological guidelines with others that are beneficial to manipulators. The purpose of this article is to analyze the use of the noun ‘collaborationist’ in the Russian mass media and the evolution of axiological guidelines formed by modern media. The methods of this research are semantic, stylistic, and contextual analysis of lexemes. A special role is assigned to the analysis of the socio-political lexicon, designed to verbally embody the components of the universal semiotic opposition ‘sacred’/ ‘profane’ (in other modifications, also ‘one’s own’/ ‘someone else’s’, ‘good’/ ‘bad’, etc.). This field of activity requires clear formulations to recognize participants of the opposing parties and to introduce appropriate verbal labels in public opinion. Research results. There are cases of uncritical attitude to the realities of the past, extrapolated to the present. This also happens due to the change of lexical designations of historical events and their participants. The word ‘collaborationist’ was previously used only in relation to citizens of European states that collaborated with the Nazi occupiers during World War II. Today, it has clearly displaced from circulation the designations ‘traitor’ and ‘traitor to the Motherland’, which were previously the usual names of Soviet citizens who collaborated with the fascists. Conclusion. Such substitutions are extremely common in Russian public speech acts today. This example is one of many cases of transformation of the universal opposition ‘sacred’/ ‘profane’ (also ‘one’s own’/ ‘someone else’s’, ‘good’/ ‘bad’, etc.), or rather, repolarization of its verbal explications in the mass consciousness.