CHARACTERISTICS FROM THE COVER PAGES OF GERMAN LANGUAGE ZOO GUIDES

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of verbal and non-verbal characteristics (linguistic and graphic design) of the German zoo guidebooks cover. The layout of guidebooks concerns the architectonic of the book and serves as a sign of theme, functions and text reception situation. The materiality as a feature of text correlates with the holistic understanding of style (style as a complex of elements considered at different text levels). In texts with a combination of linguistic and graphic elements (visual or polycode texts), graphic elements do not violate the semantic coherence of the text and enhance the impact on the recipient. The selected material, German zoo guidebooks of the Vienna, Berlin, Hanover and Leipzig zoos (from 1951 to 2013, 26 exemplars), is particularly interesting in view of the research situation. German zoo guidebooks are characterized by the diversity of formats that are non-verbal symptoms of changes in the zoo. Various formats (narrowed, extended, portrait, landscape format) of German zoo guidebooks appear as non-verbal symptoms of the anniversary of the founding and conceptual changes of the zoo; through the format, even in the absence of language elements and photos on the cover, it is possible to set the years that are historically important in the formation of the zoo. The dominance of the image over the linguistic elements on the cover performs an attractive function and forms the expectation of a large number of photos in the text of the zoo guidebooks. Important elements of the cover are the logo as a distinctive sign of the zoo and collocations. The cover creates the first impression not only about the guide, but also the zoo (guide as information tool about the institution), motivates to buy a guide and visit the zoo, so the importance of language and graphics of guide covers is difficult to overestimate. The preferred use of the name “Zooführer” instead of “Führer” emphasizes the author's identification of the zoo guidebook genre.