SEMANTIC POTENTIAL OF THE LEXEME COMMAND IN JOSEPH CONRAD’S NOVEL “THE SHADOW-LINE”

<jats:p>The article investigates the semantic potential of the lexeme command in Joseph Conrad’s novel The Shadow-Line and its Polish and Ukrainian translations. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a deeper examination of maritime vocabulary in literary discourse, particularly through the identification of author-specific meanings of nautical nominations against the background of their conventional usage. The aim of the research is to identify and classify the lexical-semantic variants of the word command in the original text of the novel and in the translations by Aniela Zagórska, Olha Fyra, and Oleksandr Bereza. The object of the study is the lexeme command and its Polish and Ukrainian equivalents (komenda, dowództwo, kapitanstvo, etc.). The subject of the research is the semantic content of this lexeme in Joseph Conrad’s individual style. The methodological framework of the study includes contextual, semantic-stylistic, contrastive, and translation analysis. The article traces the functioning of the lexeme command within the autobiographical narrative of the novel, identifies its principal semantic modifications, and analyses the specific features of their representation in translation. The study demonstrates that the lexeme command is one of the key units of Joseph Conrad’s maritime discourse and possesses considerable semantic potential. In the literary text, it actualizes a number of interconnected meanings, including ‘appointment to the position of captain’, ‘command of a vessel’, ‘captaincy as a professional status’, ‘a desired career goal’, ‘responsibility for the ship and crew’, ‘a test of professional maturity’, ‘a fortunate opportunity’, ‘the spiritual bond between captain and ship’, and ‘the united soul of the vessel, crew, and captain’. It has been established that the psychological basis of these semantemes lies in the personal experience of the writer-sailor associated with his first captaincy. The research proves that within the artistic world of the novel, the semantics of the word command evolves from a terminological designation to a profound ontological concept. Prospects for further research include a comprehensive analysis of other key maritime lexemes in Joseph Conrad’s works and the peculiarities of their representation in English, Polish, and Ukrainian.</jats:p>