RUSSIAN <i>BEAR</i> AND CHINESE <i>LONG</i>: ZOOLOGICAL METAPHOR IN RUSSIAN AND CHINESE POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Zoometaphor plays a very important role in linguistics, especially in contrastive studies, and has long attracted the attention of both Russian and Chinese linguists, including A. N. Baranov, A. P. Chudinov, F. N. Guketlova, T. S. Vershinina, Zhao Yanfan, Xue Yahong, Guo Weihai and others who also show deep interest in the role of this kind of metaphor in political discourse. Russian linguist A. P. Chudinov believes that each concrete metaphor reflects the worldview of one person thus contributing to the creation of a common metaphorical picture of the world of a certain society. Representations of the animal world, characteristic of Russian and Chinese cultures are reflected in zoometaphors involved in political discourse in both languages. Chinese linguists Xue Yahong and Guo Weihai consider the conceptual metaphor “man is an animal” one of the most important means of cognition and representation of knowledge in language. By resorting to zoometaphors statesmen and politicians choose a more effective and efficient way of conveying their political views and thus exercise a stronger influence on the target audience. The article analyzes examples of metaphors with the “bear” component and metaphors with the “Long” component. These two words play an important role in conceptualizing the world of Russian and Chinese people and metaphorically represent the two cultures. The image of the bear metaphorically represents the political authority of Russia; the use of the word “bear” stands for “strength” contributing to a positive image of a powerful state that can protect itself. Likewise, Long represents China, and in the eyes of the Chinese it is a symbol of everything sacred, noble, strong and successful, so it shows China as an authoritative state. It is stressed in the article that both Long and the dragon have mythological roots and arouse different associations, therefore it is appropriate to use the word “Long” rather than “dragon” when addressing Chinese culture. Analysis of metaphors with the bear and Long components in western political discourse shows that respective metaphors can transmit negative attitudes, which points to a controversial attitude of western politicians to Russia and China.