Zoolexemes And Zoo-Phraseological Units In The German And Russian Political Discourses

Animalistic vocabulary in a direct meaning

The use of zoonyms in the texts of political communication with a direct meaning is associated with the actualization of relations between humans and animals. In this regard, derivative words and combinations appear in these texts, in which there are elements indicating the involvement of animals in the social and legal sphere. Lexical units and combinations reflecting the relationship of animals and humans can be divided into three groups.

The first group includes complex words and phrases that refer to legal documents and policies, for example, laws, regulations, associations, main trends, prohibitions, programs focusing on animals: Tierrecht, Tierschutzpolitik, Tierschutzrecht, Tierschutzgesetz, Tierschutzverband, Tierschutzstandard, Tierschutzrichtlinien, Tierwohlkennzeichen, Tierversuchskapazität, Nutztierhaltungsverordnung, tierschutzrechtlich, Zirkuswildtierverbot, Wildtierverbot, Verbot des Pferdekutschenbetriebes, Verbot von Ponykarussels, Programm zur Kastration von freilebenden Katzen, Hundegesetz; единые стандарты содержания домашних животных, правовое регулирование отношений в области обращения с животными, правила разведения и содержания домашних животных, административная ответственность за нарушение правил содержания и разведения домашних животных, нормативы для обеспечения жителей городских территорий площадками для выгула собак (ediny`e standarty` soderzhaniya domashnix zhivotny`x, pravovoe regulirovanie otnoshenij v oblasti obrashheniya s zhivotny`mi, pravila razvedeniya i soderzhaniya domashnix zhivotny`x, administrativnaya otvetstvennost` za narushenie pravil soderzhaniya i razvedeniya domashnix zhivotny`x, normativy` dlya obespecheniya zhitelej gorodskix territorij ploshhadkami dlya vy`gula sobak), etc.

The second group consists of lexical units and phrases stating that animals are “used“ by humans: Massentierverhaltung, Tierversuche, Tierschutz, Tiernutzung, Nutzung von Pferden in Ponykarussels, Handel mit Hunden und Welpen, Schweinefleisch, Fleisch- und Kuhbabymilchkonsumenten; жестокие убийства собак и кошек, жестокое обращение с животным, меры по предотвращению появления нежелательного потомства у животных, выгул без поводка и намордника собак сторожевых и бойцовых пород, использование лабораторных животных, отлов животных, использование животных в культурно-зрелищных целях (zhestokie ubijstva sobak i koshek, zhestokoe obrashhenie s zhivotny`m, mery` po predotvrashheniyu poyavleniya nezhelatel`nogo potomstva u zhivotny`x, vy`gul bez povodka i namordnika sobak storozhevy`x i bojczovy`x porod, ispol`zovanie laboratorny`x zhivotny`x, otlov zhivotny`x, ispol`zovanie zhivotny`x v kul`turno-zrelishhny`x celyax), etc.

The third group consists of animalistic words and phrases reflecting the perception of animals by humans as full members of a single space (animal rights, animal welfare and living conditions): Tierwohl, tiergerecht, tierfreundlich, Schutzstatus des Wolfes, Sauen ohne Kontakt zu Artgenossen; защита животных от жестокого обращения, ответственность человека за судьбу животного (zashhita zhivotny`x ot zhestokogo obrashheniya, otvetstvennost` cheloveka za sud`bu zhivotnogo), etc. For example, an ÖDP party poster calls for respect for animals: „Respekt für Tiere jetzt! Tierqulerei ist sowas von gestern! Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei“.

The above-mentioned examples from the German language are usually complex words, and in the Russian language the following phrases are used for the same purposes: Tierschutz, Nutztierhaltungsverordnung; отлов животных, использование лабораторных животных (otlov zhivotny`x, ispol`zovanie laboratorny`x zhivotny`x).

In direct meaning in the German-speaking and Russian-speaking political communication, the derivative words from the morpheme “Tier” are predominantly used from animalistic vocabulary, as well as the names of the animals that surround a person and live with him in the immediate area: Hund, Schwein, Katze, Kuh, Pferd. Politicians are primarily interested in the topics related to the conditions of keeping domestic and farm animals, and much less often – problems concerning wild animals.

The active use of animalistic vocabulary in various genres of political discourse (programs, election posters, articles) in the direct meaning indicates that parties and politicians seek to expand the ranks of their supporters by updating the theme of “attitude to animals”.

Animal images and attitude to animals are the factors that can increase or decrease the attractiveness of a politician or a political structure. The strategy to increase the attractiveness of a politician is often used in campaign posters, where a politician is portrayed next to an animal. Information about the negative attitude towards animals represents the implementation of a strategy of discrediting politicians, for example, animal welfare advocates often post materials on the Internet about politicians called the mafia; animals suffer from this mafia: Tiermafia “Wegen dieser Politiker leiden Tiere in Deutschland”.

Animalistic vocabulary in an indirect meaning

As it was mentioned above, zoonyms have been historically used in political communication in a metaphorical meaning, when the image of an animal embodied various qualities that are conveyed to a person, a political union, a country.

The metaphorical use of animalistic words most often occurs with the use of zoo-phraseological units. In linguistic literature, the term “political idiom” is found, which correlates with phraseological units characterized by the use of political discourse in the texts. In the analyzed corpus, the following combinations can be attributed to political zoo-phraseological units: das trojanische Pferd / Trojan horse (secret insidious plan, disguised as a gift), Katz im Sack / cat in a bag (something unknown, which can then be bought or released), den Löwenanteil bekommen / lion's share (the majority received by someone unjustly), Wolf im Schafspelz / a wolf in sheep's clothing (a person hiding his true evil intentions), lahme Ente / lame duck (politician who will soon leave his post). These phraseological units are used both in German and Russian-language texts in similar situations, for example, when describing a candidate for deputy (Katz im Sack; кот в мешке – kot v meshke), emphasizing hostile elements in their ranks which can be a source of danger at any moment (das trojanische Pferd; троянский конь – troyanskij kon`); Wolf im Schafspelz; волк в овечьей шкуре – volk v ovech`ej shkure), when pointing out the unfair distribution of something (den Löwenanteil bekommen; получить львиную долю – poluchit` l`vinuyu dolyu), the manifestation of political struggle often occurs in the form of “bear service” (“disservice”) / Einen Bärendienst erweisen; оказать медвежью услугу – okazat` medvezh`yu uslugu.

In some cases, various zoo-phraseological units are used to describe similar situations in the German-language and Russian-language political communication. For example, a description of situations of people impoverishment, deterioration of their financial situation in political texts in German is characterized by the phraseological unit “auf den Hund kommen”, and in Russian «сосать лапу» (“sosat` lapu” – “suck paw”), which means the image of a bear that eats nothing and sucks the paw during winter hibernation. Probably, the image of a bear and its habits are more familiar to the Russian person, and not to the German. The characterization of an incorrigible person or a party/country true to its habits is conveyed in the German-language texts by the phraseological units “die Katze lässt die Mausen nicht”, and in the Russian language «сколько волка ни корми, он все в лес смотрит» (“skol`ko volka ni kormi, on vse v les smotrit” – “you can give the wolf the best food, but he would hanker for the wood”).

In German texts, which say that deputies or party representatives are not telling the truth, the phraseological units “einen Bären aufbinden lassen” is used, there is no corresponding equivalent – zoo-phraseological unit in Russian, the equivalent «рассказывать сказки» (“rasskazy`vat` skazki” – “tell tales”) is found in the Russian-language texts in similar situations.

In Russian-language texts about two strong leaders claiming the same role, zoo-phraseological unit «два медведя в одной берлоге» (“dva medvedya v odnoj berloge” – “two bears in one lair”) is used; in German, no equivalent zoo-phraseological unit was found.

Zoo-phraseological units are used in the speeches of politicians in order to make speech more emotional and expressive. In addition, the purpose of using these language means is the desire of politicians to demonstrate their closeness to the people, because most phraseological units are colloquial. V. V. Putin actively uses phraseological units in his speeches, which are accompanied by the words «как говорят у нас в народе» (“kak govoryat u nas v narode” – “as our people say”). Zoomorphic lexical units were found in his speeches – «жирные коты» (“zhirny`e koty`” – “fat cats”) – about bankers, «от мертвого осла уши» (“ot mertvogo osla ushi” – “ears of a dead donkey”), «козел отпущения» (“kozel otpushheniya” – “scapegoat”), «ну куда же нам с нашей мордой, да в калашный ряд» (Usachev, 2013) – (“nu kuda zhe nam s nashej mordoj, da v kalashny`j ryad” – “well, where are we with our face, but in the Kalash trade arcade”, rephrased Russian idiom; English equivalent “a pig in a bun shop”). Zoo-phraseological units are found in the speeches of other Russian politicians as well. V. V. Zhirinovsky also turns to zoo-phraseological units in order to make his speech emotional. For example, he speaks with dislike of his political opponents, who made «дойная корова» (“dojnaya korova” – “a cash cow”) out the country.

In speeches of German politicians, we did not meet any zoo-phraseological units.

Double actualization of zoophraseologisms semantics

In the German-speaking corpus, there were pre-election posters where both direct and figurative meanings were implemented simultaneously through a combination of verbal and non-verbal codes. This method has enormous pragmatic potential, because a memorable image is created. It influences the emotional sphere and is remained in the memory for a long time, and at the same time, a value appealing to the mind is realized. For example, the campaign poster of the German vegan party used phraseological unit “die Kuh vom Eis holen” which means “to solve the problem”. The main text of the poster informed voters that the party’s representatives would solve problems related to climate change and consumers’ problems: “Wir holen die Kuh vom Eis- #Klimawandel #Tierrechte #Verbraucherschutz ”, while the effect of double actualization was created by adding a non-verbal component – an image of the hand, holding a cow over ice cream.

On the campaign poster of the CDU party candidate, the phraseological unit “bekannt wie ein bunter Hund” was played around. Double actualization was also realized through the use of several codes – verbal and non-verbal. The image of the female candidate is given in the form of a portrait hanging on the wall, in front of which a variegated dog sits and admires it. The verbal component of the poster is designed as the address of the web page “www.bekanntwieeinbunterhund.hamburg”.

Images of a dog, a pig, a goat were used on German posters implementing the double actualization of the semantics of phraseological unit.

In the Russian-language corpus, double actualization is presented only in texts that use the lexemes such as «медведь», «медвежий» (“medved”, “medvezhij” – “bear”), and phraseological units with the given word. In all these cases, the well-known metaphorical meaning is updated and the metaphorical usual meaning is updated, indicating the party «Единая Россия» (“Jedinaja Rossija” – “United Russia” party), a symbol of which is the bear. For example, in the following excerpt from the article, there is a similar double actualization of the semantics of the phraseological unit «медвежья услуга» (“medvezh`ya usluga” – “bear service”): «Очевидно, что смс-рассылка не что иное, как очередная «медвежья» услуга наших политических оппонентов… Как еще объяснить эту неприкрытую попытку «стравить» на митинге, который действительно состоится 4 ноября, людей разных национальностей?» (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) , 2011 ) (“Ochevidno, chto sms-rassy`lka ne chto inoe, kak ocherednaya «medvezh`ya» usluga nashix politicheskix opponentov… Kak eshhe ob``yasnit` e`tu neprikry`tuyu popy`tku «stravit`» na mitinge, kotory`j dejstvitel`no sostoitsya 4 noyabrya, lyudej razny`x nacional`nostej?” – “It is obvious that the SMS mailing is nothing more than another “bear service” of our political opponents ... How else to explain this overt attempt to turn people of different nationalities against each other at the rally which will really take place on November 4?”). «Медвежья» (“medvezh`ya” – “bear”) in this context has two meanings: “unpleasant” and “made by the representative of the party «Единая Россия»” (“Jedinaja Rossija” – the party “United Russia”).