Olga O. Bychkova
Postgraduate student of the first year of study
specialty 035 “Philology”
State Institution “South Ukrainian National Pedagogical
University named after K. D. Ushynsky”,
Odessa, Ukraine
e-mail: olha.bychkova@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7590-4721
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24195/2616-5317-2026-42.4
SUMMARY
The relevance of the study is driven by the transformational processes in the field of professional communication within law enforcement agencies and the need for proper linguo-pragmatic, regulatory, and socio-cultural conceptualization of police discourse in the context of globalization. Despite the existence of individual linguistic studies, a number of issues related to the verbal implementation of power, conflict de-escalation strategies, terminological unification, and ethical standards of police communication with citizens in English, German, and Ukrainianspeaking environments require additional scientific analysis from a comparative linguistic perspective. The aim of the article is to investigate the structural, semantic, pragmatic, and legal features of police discourse in Ukraine and selected foreign countries (the UK, the USA, and Germany) to formulate grounded proposals for improving the professional training and speech culture of national police personnel. The study employs formal-legal, comparativetypological, discourse-analytical, logical-semantic methods, and the method of contextual interpretation. As a result of the study, it was established that the linguo-legal basis of police discourse in Ukraine is formed by the provisions of specialized legislation and departmental regulations, which define speech etiquette and communication algorithms during the performance of official duties. It was revealed that the Ukrainian model is characterized by a transition from imperative-directive to service-oriented speech strategies, which leads to changes in the lexical content of the discourse and the emergence of new communicative clichés. It was proven that the pragmatic basis of police discourse in the English language relies significantly on precedent speech acts and standardized warning formulas, which enhances the legal significance of verbal interaction. It was found that German police discourse is distinguished by a high degree of nominalization and terminological precision, ensuring objectivity in recording offenses in procedural documentation. Comparative analysis showed that in Anglo-American and German traditions, police discourse is combined with well-developed mechanisms of linguistic expertise of law enforcement speech, transparency of communicative scenarios, and a clear distinction between official and operational speech styles. It was substantiated that Ukrainian police discourse generally develops in line with Western democratic standards (“Community Policing”), yet requires further lexicographic processing and harmonization with international standards of professional communication. The practical value of the work lies in clarifying the linguopragmatic nature of police discourse, identifying its key cognitivediscursive characteristics, and determining elements of foreign linguistic experience that are significant for increasing the efficiency of law enforcement activities, ensuring human rights during communication, and forming a positive image of the police in Ukrainian society.
Key words: police discourse, professional communication, linguopragmatics, legal linguistics, comparative linguistic analysis, speech strategies, police speech culture.
REFERENCES
Alobaidallah A., Almutairi M. Linguistic pragmatics of police-citizen interaction: a comparative study (2025). International Journal of Law and Language. Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 108–124.
Bundeskriminalamt (2024). Standardisierte Berichterstattung und polizeiliche Fachsprache. Wiesbaden.
Bytyak O. V. (2023). Linhvopravovi zasady profesiynoyi komunikatsiyi u pravookhoronniy diyalnosti. [Linguo-Legal Principles of Professional Communication in Law Enforcement Activities]. Monograph. Kharkiv : Pravo [in Ukrainian].
Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (1984). Law of Ukraine of 07.12.1984 No. 8073-X. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/80731-10 [in Ukrainian].
College of Policing (2025). Authorised Professional Practice: Communication and Engagement. Coventry.
Delbosc A., Richardson J. (2025). Communicative strategies in Community Policing: global trends. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. Vol. 108, pp. 25–40.
Home Office (2025). Manual of Guidance for Police Communications and Speech Standards 2025. London : HMSO.
Ivanovska T., Petrenko L. (2025). Privacy-by-design in digital police monitoring systems. European Journal of Privacy Law. № 1, pp. 70–82.
Kryvoblotskyy V. V. (2025). Yurydychna linhvistyka: porivnyalnyy analiz pravovykh terminosystem. [Legal Linguistics: Comparative Analysis of Legal Terminology]. Tsyfrova transformatsiya prava. [ Digital transformation of law’]. 2, pp. 138–150 [in Ukrainian].
New York City Department of Transportation (2024). Automated Speed Enforcement Program Report 2024. New York.
Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand (2024). Privacy Impact Assessment: Safety Cameras Program. Wellington.
Pro zatverdzhennya Pravyl etychnoyi povedinky politseyskykh (2016). Nakaz MVS Ukrayiny vid 09.11.2016 No. 1179. [On approval of the Rules of ethical conduct of police officers: order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated 09.11.2016 No. 1179]. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z1576-16 [in Ukrainian].
Svitlychnyi O. P. (2024). Movlennyeva kultura politseyskoho yak instrument zabezpechennya prav lyudyny. [Speech Culture of the Policeman as a Tool for Ensuring Human Rights.] Pravo i suspilstvo [ Law and Society]. 3, pp. 80–95 [in Ukrainian].
Vadeby A., Howard M. (2024). Terminology and precision in German police reports: a linguistic evaluation. Legal Linguistics Review. Vol. 195, pp. 208–220.
Zvit pro vprovadzhennya standartiv (2026) profesiynoyi komunikatsiyi v orhanakh Natsionalnoyi politsiyi Ukrayiny za 2025 rik. [Report on the Implementation of Professional Communication Standards in the National Police of Ukraine for 2025]. Kyiv: NPU.