Ludobójstwo, zbrodnia, pogrom, rzeź, masakra, makabra... Obrazy kognitywne zakodowane w semantycznej strukturze synonimów określających okrucieństwa wobec grup etnicznych

This article aims to show the cognitive images encoded in the semantic structure of the lexemes: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, slaughter, pogrom, massacre, and macabre, used to describe atrocities against ethnic groups. The analysiswas based on the example of the material related to the Ukrainian citizens during the war, which has been ongoing since 24 February 2022. The analysis is rooted in the theoretical framework of cognitive ethnolinguistics, including the profiling method, which is quite innovative in linguistics. The article proves that the lexemes under consideration, although of similar cognitive value, differ in terms of the ordering of the components of meaning, which makes them evoke a different image in thereader of the texts. Five different perspectives of the perception of war atrocities encoded in the words are distinguished, i.e., (1) the moral and penal aspect; (2) the collective subject of the actions and the minority nature of the victims; (3) the modus operandi of the perpetrator; (4) the totality of the destruction evident to the observer; and (5) the emotions that the effect of the perpetrator’s actions evokes in the witness, i.e., horror and disgust.