COMMUNICATION DURING CORONAVIRUS: FUNCTIONING OF EUPHEMISMS IN MEDIA COVERAGE

The paper studies euphemisms which are employed in the English mass media to describe the coronavirus pandemic and the social events connected with it. Euphemisms being one of the modes of spotting the social reality chosen by the speaker at the same time mark areas of cultural, social, or communicative tension. In this sense the study of euphemisms in the media makes it possible to characterize the social, cultural and speech preferences of native speakers, their axiological priorities. To achieve the goal indicated in the study, the following methods were used: definitional method, the method of linguistic description, classification method, method of quantitative data processing, structural method, contextual method, the comparative method. The euphemisms which are used to disguise the coronavirus pandemic and the phenomena associated with it are categorized according to the following criteria: terms and terminology used to describe the facts under study, the emotional sphere of the native speakers which is connected with the social events, the reflection of the social life during the pandemic. It is considered that the main linguo-pragmatic aim of euphemisms’ creating is to reduce the hardships and make the tension of the situation more manageable.