Childhood in Ukrainian Media: Discursive Study of Ukrainian and Russian Language Magazines

This study is an inquiry into popular children’s magazines produced in Ukraine. The focus is on the construction of childhood in texts via both verbal and visual elements. The Critical Discourse Analysis framework is the principle theoretical and methodological tool used for the study of media language and addressing questions of social significance. The visual analysis rests on premises of the social semiotic framework by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) and Machin and van Leeuwen (2007). Linguistic analysis considers address and reference forms, focusing on the distribution and meaning of these forms in the three magazines studied. Both verbal and visual analyses devote special attention to “individualization” or “collectivization” elements of text, which contribute to the presentations of identities of both the magazine and its readers. The results are linked to a discussion of cultural practices and social changes in contemporary Ukrainian society.