Linguacreative Foundations of the German Comic Book "Dig, Dag, Digedag"

Abstract

The paper features linguistic and creative foundations in the German comic book "Dig, Dag, Digedag". Modern linguacultural, cognitive studies, and discursive practices are aimed at studying comics, which are a series of drawings with brief accompanying texts. However, comic books consist of two components – verbal and nonverbal, which means that graphic novels and strips have linguacreative foundations. The author performed philological and semiotic analyzes to identify the linguistic and creative foundations of the German comic book. The algorithm of the philological analysis included literary description of the time and place, the most original and interesting scenes in several editions, lexical expressive means and stylistic devices. The semiotic analysis featured the graphics related to the non-verbal component. The linguistic and creative foundations of the comic are manifested in original plots that allow its readers to escape from everyday and political problems through fun, exciting, and informative trips to Ancient Rome, Sicily, ancient Arab countries, the Moon and Mars, as well as to an uninhabited island. The carefully selected scientific and mundane knowledge is transmitted through verbal means and comic book graphics, making young readers expand their horizon. The use of such tools as hyperbole, metaphor, pun, as well as diverse vocabulary within the text of the comic, also suggests linguistic creativity of the German comic book "Dig, Dag, Digedag".