Ukraine, Sabatini (Crusca): Neither genocide nor denazification in the ongoing conflict “

“Either in the proper sense in the conflict in Ukraine or in a metaphorical sense in the fight against Covid, the terms that can be defined as ‘war’, such as war, battle, massacre, curfew, outbreak, are used with a much higher frequency than usual, in political language as in that of the media and in spoken language. In some respects, it is inevitable “, says linguist Francesco Sabatini, honorary president of the Accademia della Crusca, interviewed by AdnKronos, underlining that” in wartime, even the language it’s a weapon “. Speaking of the ‘real’ war, the one being fought in Ukraine, terms such as ‘denazification’ by Putin’s propaganda emerge as a justification for the invasion, or ‘genocide’ by Zelensky as an accusation against the invader … are they used correctly? “Neither of them seems to be well founded – replies Sabatini – Nobody can believe Putin when he describes the war against Ukraine as a war on Nazism, to wage it at least linguistically requires a Nazi state and system to defeat, which does not exist. As for genocide, deriving from the Greek ‘ghenos’ then taken up by the Latin ‘gens’, it presupposes the intention to kill an entire lineage, an entire ethnic group, an entire people, which does not seem to be the case with the Ukrainian people ” The honorary president of the Accademia della Crusca then observes: “In emergency situations, strong words prevail, even if used in a metaphorical sense as it was for the description of the ‘war’ at Covid, of the ‘battle’ against the virus, of the ‘resistance’ of vaccines, of the red areas under ‘siege’, of the ‘curfew’ for the closure of certain squares or activities. Moreover, even for the arrival of Covid there was talk of an ‘outbreak’ of the pandemic … The aggressive terms of the rest ve They are always used in a metaphorical sense also for positive things such as the ‘war’ on hunger or poverty “, comments Sabatini. (by Enzo Bonaiuto)