Abstract
The article discusses the factors that determine the use of animalistic vocabulary in modern political discourse. On the one hand, these factors are related to a new awareness of the relationship between humans and animals in the modern world; on the other hand, they are related to the pragmatic potential of zoomorphic lexemes. The dominant of political discourse, which is the confrontation of political competitors, is manifested in the use of zoomorphic lexical units that take part either in creating an attractive image or in discrediting politicians and political associations. The pragmatic potential of zoonyms correlates with the semantic of the lexical unit, which can be used in the texts of modern political discourse in a direct meaning, metaphorical meaning, and in some cases both types of meanings are realized simultaneously. Consideration of zoonyms according to the types of semantics allows covering most comprehensively the entire arsenal of zoomorphic units functioning in German-language and Russian-language texts of political communication. Since phraseological units with an animalistic component are explicators of the linguistic view of the world, in some cases an understanding of the meaning and functions of the concerned units is possible only based on knowledge of the national culture of native speakers. The article compares Russian-language and German-language texts of political subjects containing animalistic vocabulary, including phraseological units with an animalistic component. The comparison is based on the material of election posters, party program documents and media texts on political and social issues.
Highlights
Animalistic vocabulary and animal images are often used in the texts of modern media, including publications devoted to political topics (Lyzlov, 2018; Universität Greifswald, 2017)
A change in the attitude towards animals in society has influenced political discourse, which is manifested in the active use of animalistic vocabulary in the basic meaning, in the use of new derivative units and combinations that reflect refocus of attention from animals as carriers of cultural symbolic information to relationships of human and animals
“Animalism” in society contributes to the expansion of the list of types of texts of political discourse in which zoolexemes are used: they are actively used in the texts of political posters, party program documents, speeches of politicians and political articles
Summary
Animalistic vocabulary and animal images are often used in the texts of modern media, including publications devoted to political topics (Lyzlov, 2018; Universität Greifswald, 2017). This is due to a certain extent, a change in attitude towards animals in modern society. Since 2010, special research projects and publications appeared on this topic, and training courses started to be taught at universities in Germany. All this things contributed to the formation of a new interdisciplinary scientific field of Human-Animal Studies. The sharp focus of this approach concentrates on the relationship between people and animals, on those areas where the lifestyles of humans and animals intersect (Kompatscher, Spannring, & Schachinger, 2017)
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