Structural-Semantic and Pragmatic Features of Acrothesis in Contemporary Ukrainian Poetic Discourse

Abstract

The article examines acrothesis as an asymmetric subtype of antithesis in contemporary Ukrainian poetic discourse. The relevance of the study is determined by the insufficient theoretical definition of acrothesis in modern linguistics, where it is most often treated only as a subtype of antithesis without a clear distinction of its structural, semantic, cognitive, and pragmatic parameters. Contemporary Ukrainian poetry, especially in the context of historical transformations and war experience, actively employs contrast as a fundamental mechanism of meaning formation, which makes the study of acrothesis particularly significant. The purpose of the article is to analyze acrothesis as a specific form of contrastive organization in contemporary Ukrainian poetic language and to define its structural-semantic, cognitive, and pragmatic features, as well as its functional role in the axiological structuring of poetic meaning. The study aims to clarify the theoretical status of acrothesis in the system of stylistic devices; to distinguish acrothesis from related contrastive structures such as symmetrical antithesis, antimetabole, and amphithesis; to identify and classify its structural-semantic models; and to describe its cognitive and pragmatic mechanisms as a means of interpretative focusing and axiological correction. Methods. The research is based on the integrated methodological approach, including structural-semantic analysis, contextual analysis, stylistic analysis, and cognitive-pragmatic interpretation. Some elements of frame semantics theory and relevance theory are applied to explain the mechanism of interpretative focusing. The empirical material consists of examples from contemporary Ukrainian poetry, which allow the identification of recurrent acrothetic models and their functional properties. Results. The study demonstrates that acrothesis functions as a mechanism of cognitive focusing in which the negated component activates a stereotypical or culturally conventional interpretative frame, while the affirmed component becomes the semantic and axiological dominant. Unlike symmetrical antithesis, acrothesis is characterized by hierarchical asymmetry, where one element performs a background function and the other concentrates the primary meaning. The main structural-semantic models of acrothesis are identified as attributive, predicative, adverbial, and nominative. The functional analysis reveals that acrothesis performs focusing, argumentative, expressive, ethical, demythologizing, and compositional functions. It contributes to interpretative control, semantic precision, and axiological clarification in poetic discourse. Conclusions. Acrothesis is established as an independent cognitive-pragmatic and stylistic mechanism that plays a crucial role in the semantic and axiological organization of contemporary Ukrainian poetic discourse. It functions not merely as a subtype of antithesis but as a distinct form of contrastive meaning construction aimed at correcting stereotypical interpretations and establishing semantic dominance. Acrothesis enhances interpretative clarity, conceptual precision, and expressive intensity, making it an important structural and cognitive instrument of poetic thinking in modern Ukrainian literature.