CC BY
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ность отражают разные уровни одного высказывания и, соответственно, имеют идентичные средства выражения, имеют общую интенцию - скрыть негативное отношение, добиться от адресата необходимой реакции [1].
Таким образом, динамичную толерантность можно рассматривать как весьма эффективный способ создания англоязычного фэнтезийного дискурса.
Список литературы
1. Печагина, Т. В. Категориальные концепты добро и зло в детской фэнтези : дис. ... канд. филол. наук. Челябинск, 2011. 206 с.
2. Южакова, Ю. В. Толерантность массовоинформационного дискурса идеологической направленности : автореф. дис. ... канд. филол. наук. Челябинск, 2007. 24 с.
Вестник Челябинского государственного университета. 2013. № 22 (313).
Филология. Искусствоведение. Вып. 81. С. 103-106.
D. N. Polyakova
SPECIFICS OF WAR JOURNALISM: THE PROBLEM OF CAMOUFLAGE AND THE LANGUAGE SPECIFICS OF USING COLOR NAMES FOR DENOTING CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS
Рассматриваются некоторые особенности работы журналистов в условиях военных и социальных конфликтов, в частности, проблема безопасности военных корреспондентов и вопрос использования камуфляжной формы в процессе журналистской работы, а также особенности профессионального языка российских и американских военнослужащих, связанные с использованием цветовых наименований для обозначения номенклатуры камуфляжной формы.
Ключевые слова: камуфляж, военный корреспондент, камуфляжные имена, названия цветов.
Journalists have to work in various conditions, including extreme situations of war and social conflicts. In such cases their work and life is at risk the same way as everyone else’s. Moreover, the profession specifics create particular risks for military correspondents.
Whether there are some universal rules that guide journalists in war zones remains a question. In each case, reporters have to rely on their experience and intuition and thoroughly analyze the environment to decide whether they should use the camouflage to mingle with the crowd. In this article we consider the problem of camouflage in the work of journalists, along with the language peculiarities of using color names to describe the range of camouflage uniforms in professional language of Russian and American military.
Should journalists use camouflage in combat conditions or not? On the one hand, there are reporters who stand quite against it. For example, Leila Saralaeva in her feature Specifics of Journalism in Extreme Conditions in Kyrgyzstan: Personal Experience [hereinafter the references and quotations are translated by the author] writes that
the use of camouflage at the beginning of her career was a mistake. During the so-called Batken events in Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan, she had her first experience of working with the military. Leila decided to visit the camp wearing camouflage, and, in her mind, it was not only dangerous, but also caused some problems, as locals were reluctant to talk to a person in uniform, and she often had to explain that she was a journalist, but not a soldier [3].
There is quite a common viewpoint that in no case should journalists wear a military uniform, because it makes them a vulnerable target. It is not recommended to approach soldiers in the dark wearing dark monochromatic clothes that can be taken for camouflage. In addition, problems may occur if a reporter was seen in uniform on either side of the conflict.
According to the opposite point of view it is believed that uniformed journalists will gain more trust among the military, as they will be perceived as insiders. In his handbook Journalism on the Conflict, Alexander A. Knyazev writes that camouflage can be in fact more protective against snip-
ers, as any person outstanding in the crowd shall instinctively attract more attention [2].
However, it must be remembered that in many countries, such as Afghanistan, camouflage is often available only to commanders, so a civilian wearing a uniform may be an attractive target for snipers. There are countries where local police are ordered to ensure no civilian uses military camouflage items. At the same time, in Russia and in many CIS countries civilians are often seen wearing camouflage without military insignia. Thus, according to Alexander A. Knyazev, a reporter shall be guided by practical considerations. ‘Sometimes it is advisable to mix with the crowd, yet sometimes it helps to stand out. You shouldn’t play by the book, but be creative and evaluate the situation...’ [2].
The issue of military camouflage and other professional features of military service may also rise in everyday communication. In such case, reporters have to be familiar with the military slang. Leila Saralaeva, describing her experience, admits, ‘At the beginning I had no idea of the army, so I had to memorize the meaning of such commonly used words as squadron, troop, AK Rifle and so on’ [3].
Now let us consider the concept of camouflage and the language specifics of denoting the color range of camouflage uniforms. This information presents both scientific and practical interest, as it may be useful in the work of military correspondents. Camouflage (French word meaning ‘masking’) is the use of any combination of materials, coloration or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else [4].
Camouflage is based on a clear system of different colors and color patterns adopted for various environments of combat and reconnaissance operations. Camouflage used by the U.S., NATO, Russian troops and armies of other countries depends on the landscape. For example, armies in the North use more winter camouflage, whereas in countries with hot climate they tend to focus on summer options. In some countries they even wear camouflage shorts. Each type of camouflage has a range of particular patterns, colors and nomenclature names (nomens) respectively. The most popular is Woodland which has long been used in many countries.
English color nomens used to identify camouflage can be divided into groups depending on the area where uniforms are used:
1) In the urban area American troops use various Urban Patterns, such as Urban Tracks and
Urban Camouflage Pattern Combat, the latter being an experimental camouflage, a combination of dark gray and blue-black geometric spots on a gray background.
2) The forest area requires the use of Woodland camouflage, which is a pattern of light green, dark green, brown and black spots. It has four options, such as General, Temperate, Lowland, featuring lots of green hues; Highland, with a predominance of brown spots; Transitional, also known as Delta, masking soldiers both in the optical and in the infrared range.
Modern American army started using experimental camouflage, for example, Multicam, or Scorpion Camo Pattern, which has amoeboid patches of dark green, light and dark brown, black and beige on a light green background. It is well suited for woodland, but still remains a commercial version produced by Crye Precision Company.
3) For the flat, semi-desert terrain Khaki and Olive camouflages are often used. Khaki (from Persian word ‘khak’ meaning ‘dirt, dust’) is a cult color for uniforms, which is still used in some modern armies and law enforcement agencies, despite the variety of camouflage patterns. It is believed that the color was introduced by Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden, who in 1847 raised the Corps of Guides (intelligence and vanguard), acting within the framework of the British desert tactics. However, khaki was not officially introduced in the British forces until 1898. Even during the AngloBoer War of 1899-1902 the British army refused to use khaki uniforms on a wide scale and suffered heavy losses. One curious historical fact of that time is worth mentioning: people from the Netherlands, who made up most of the population of the Transvaal Republic, nicknamed British soldiers as ‘lobsters’ for their red uniform used in the AngloBoer Wars. After the British khaki color started to be used by the Russian and other troops, and it was widely spread during World War II. Olive camouflage, which is a combination of green and drab colors, darker than khaki, was popular during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
4) The desert terrain requires the use of Desert camouflage, which comes in two options: 3-Color Desert (sand, light green, and brown), widely used after the Gulf War, and 6-Color Desert, which got a slang name chocolate chips among American soldiers. The latter, used during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, looked similar to the 3-Color Desert camouflage, but had six colors (the base is wavy pale green, light brown, dark brown, and beige patches coated with a white spots with a black outline).
5) For tropical forests and jungles American troops use different types of camouflage, such as the following:
- Tiger stripe, which is a combination of black, green and brown stripes on a beige background. This pattern was used by different countries, for example, the military of the U.S. Army in Vietnam, and the British troops in Burma. Until now, this pattern is found in variations in many armies, including the Russian Armed Forces;
- Brown ERDL (pattern of green, beige, brown and black leave-shaped spots) and Lime ERDL (pattern of green, light green, brown and black leave-shaped spots), developed in one of the Electronics Research and Development Laboratories (ERDL) and used by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
6) The water area requires the use of various camouflage types, for example, NWU (short for Navy Working Uniform), Digital Blue / Gray Camouflage Pattern and other digital-type patterns of light gray, gray, blue and black pixels.
7) For the darkness hours Night Camouflage was designed (a dark gray mesh pattern with dark gray spots on a gray background), enabling soldiers to hide from the night vision equipment. It was used by the U.S. Army mostly during the first Gulf War.
The type of camouflage is also determined by a combatant branch. For example, the U.S. Marines use MARPAT (Marine Pattern) camouflage, which has replaced the legendary Woodland. It is a so-called ‘digital’ pattern combining light green, dark green, light brown and black colors, which in theory is more effective in breaking the symmetry of a soldier’s silhouette due to the specific perception of the pattern, as MARPAT is split into rectangular parts and it has no obvious joints between the colors. The camouflage comes in three color options, such as Digital Woodland, Digital Desert (a desert Woodland pattern without green hues), and Digital Urban.
It is believed that such an innovative solution improves the masking properties, however, it is still debated. It seems that some successful PR campaign has played an important part in promotion of MARPAT, speculating on the popular ‘digital’ word, while, in fact, this camouflage can only slightly surpass its counterparts [1].
Modern U.S. ground forces use Army Combat Uniform Pattern, or ACUPAT, which is an experimental ‘digital’ camouflage pattern of beige, gray-green and green pixels. It comes in three options, such as Desert, Urban and Woodland, with Urban
grey pattern being the basic. ACUPAT is based on the digital MARPAT camouflage, without black color (it was excluded due to its non-existence in real-life environment).
Now let us have a look at the camouflage of the Russian Army. Throughout the history of the Soviet Union and modern Russia, various types of camouflage ammunition were used.
The first camouflage clothing appeared in the Soviet Army in 1927. In 1935 a camouflage pattern was given an semiofficial name of Амёба (Eng. ‘amoeba’), the 1942 model was called Лиственный лес (Eng. ‘deciduous forest’), in 1944 Пальма (Eng. ‘palm tree’) deforming pattern in 4 variations (depending on season) was introduced. The print sample elaborated in 1957 was nicknamed as Серебряный лист (Eng. ‘silver leaf), Солнечные зайчики (Eng. ‘sunbeams’), Березка (Eng. ‘birch tree’) or Камуфляж пограничника (Eng. ‘frontiersman’s camouflage’) for its deforming pattern of light gray spots on a dark green background.
The specifics of modern Russian camouflage nomenclature is that the official nomes (consisting of abbreviated names and figures denoting the year the sample was issued), for example, ВСР-93 (Eng. VSR-93), ВСР-84 (Eng. VSR-94), ВСР-98 (Eng. VSR-98), etc., also have their slang names:
• ВСР-84 (Eng. VSR-84) (mil. colloq. Бутан, Eng. ‘butane’, otherwise called Дубок, Eng. ‘oaklet’), developed in 1984 in two options for the forest area and for the desert and steppe country; the pattern is good at disguising the silhouette in the vegetation area at various distances;
• ВСР-93 (Eng. VSR-93) (mil. colloq. Флора, Eng. ‘flora’, otherwise called Вертикалка, Eng. ‘vertical’), with brown and dark green spots on a light green background. The pattern resembles the leaves of young birch trees from some distance and has good masking properties, especially against meadow and steppe backgrounds. ВСР-93 is different from ВСР-98 (described below) in that here the camouflage lines are arranged vertically (hence the slang name Вертикалка). This pattern became famous as Schofield in the European and American armies, on honor of Carey Schofield, a correspondent for The Times and author of Inside the Soviet Army and The Russian Elite;
• ВСР-95 (Eng. VSR-95) (mil. colloq. Березка, Eng. ‘birch’), which is basically a horizontally oriented ВСР-93; comes in two options of light green Березка желтая (Eng. ‘white birch’) and dark green Березка белая (Eng. ‘yellow birch), yet there is also a dark brown variant designed for the use in the mountains;
• ВСР-98 (Eng. VSR-98) (mil. colloq. Флора, Eng. ‘flora’, otherwise called Арбуз, Eng. ‘watermelon’), with green and brown stripes on a light green background; comes in four options depending on the dominant color. This is a standard camouflage introduced in 1998 and illegal to be worn by civilians;
• modern pixel ВСР-98 (Eng. VSR-98)cam-ouflage, or Тёмный pattern (Eng. ‘dark’) (mil. colloq. Цифровая флора, Eng. ‘digital flora’, otherwise called Космос, Eng. ‘outer space’; Защита до упора, Eng. ‘as-far-as-it-will-go protection’; Цифра, Eng. ‘digit’; Пи^елька, Eng. ‘little pixel’; and Русская цифра, Eng. ‘Russian digit’). It was designed as a universal pattern and can be adapted to different types of terrain depending on the color pattern.
Many varieties of camouflage are used outside the army troops, namely in the internal troops, security services, by first responders, etc. For example, Тигр (Eng. ‘tiger’), otherwise called Камыш (Eng. ‘reed’), which is a pattern of green and brown stripes on a beige background, is the uniform of the special operations group of Vytyaz. Сплав M21 Город-1 (Eng. ‘Splav M21 Gorod-1’), which is an urban camouflage pattern of light, dark gray, blue and black spots, and Сплав M21 Лес (Eng. ‘Splav M21 Les’), a forest pattern of light, dark gray, brown and black spots, were designed by Splav company on the basis of Woodland pattern and are used in the internal armed forces.
Another popular pattern used in the first half of 1990-s by special divisions of interior troops and special purpose police unit was Орех (Eng. ‘nut’), with a blue-gray version of this pattern called Талый снег (Eng. ‘snow slush’) for winter urban conditions and a demi-season version with various khaki shades. Later the above mentioned troops switched to Подлесок pattern (Eng. ‘underwood’).
As we see, official nomens and professional jargon denoting camouflage coloring in the English and Russian languages are often associated with the names of plants (Olive, Chocolate Chips, Флора, Камыш, Березка, Арбуз, Орех), natural objects and phenomena (Woodland, Digital Desert, Хаки, Солнечные зайчики, Талый снег), animals (Tiger Stripe, Scropion, Тигр, Амёба), which is explained by the major role of camouflage to adapt to the environment and provide the mimicry of color and shape.
In addition, nomens may constitute or contain proper names (Brown ERDL, Lime ERDL, Schofield), refer to modern technologies (Digital Des-
ert, Digital Urban, Пикселька, Русская цифра), abbreviations (MTP, MARPAT, Сплав M21 Лес) and constitute multi-word combinations (Army Combat Uniform Pattern, Защита до упора). Among the specific features of the Russian military jargon one can name the use of diminutive lexical forms (Дубок, Березка, Пикселька).
In this lexical group we can observe a process, when the name of a camouflage pattern, which is a military nomen, may become a borrowing into the spoken language in the form of coloronym (color name). For example, we can distinguish a group of professionally-marked coloronyms in the English language, which can be divided into two subgroups:
1) coloronyms derived from the camouflage nomens, such as camouflage green, dark khaki;
2) coloronyms derived from the names of color names traditionally associated with a specific combatant branch, Air Force Blue, Army green, Navy Blue.
In Russian we can also observe a group of color names borrowed from the military language, such защитный зеленый, хаки, защитный синий, винтовочный зеленый, серый хаки, темный хаки.
Natural landscapes and conditions of combat operations are very diverse, so the army units use a fairly wide range of camouflage patterns, which over time may change and get updated. As a result, new nomens denoting camouflage patterns and their slang variants appear, which gives linguists a new material for research. Currently, there is a general tendency for each army to develop one universal camouflage pattern, modifying its color options according to the terrain type.
Список литературы
1. Домингес, А. Камуфляж // Лучшие компьютерные игры. 2011. № 2 (111). С. 23-26.
2. Князев, А. А. Журналистика конфликта : пособие [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://ev-artist.narod.ru/text3/10.html
3. Саралаева, Л. Особенности работы кыр-гызстанского журналиста в экстремальных условиях. Личный опыт [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.internews.kg/news/blog-news/2076-lejla-saralaeva-losobennosti-raboty-kyrgyzstanskogo-zhurnalista-v-jekstremalnyh-us-lovijah-lichnyj -opytr
4. Camouflage. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Online resource]. URL: http:// en.wikipedia.org
