Analysis and Interpretation of Genocide Related Terms

Abstract

The present article seeks to establish the cognitive value and the communicative message of genocide related terms with the account of the extra-linguistic factors. Terms like slaughter, massacre, ethnic cleansing, physical annihilation, killings, deportations are used to present and discuss both pro-Turkish attitudes of and neutral or pro-Armenian standpoints of great humanists and friends of Armenians. Still another intent of ours is to show that the terms genocide and democide which realize a specifically highlighted cognitive function, are the most appropriate ones to best define the disastrous events of 1915 on the territory of West (Turkish) Armenia.