Стаття.

Olena Dzherikh

DOI 10.31558/1815-3070.2019.38.9

UDC 81-11

LINGUOCULTURAL PECULIARITIES OF SECONDARY NOMINATIONS

OF THE HYPOCONCEPT NATURAL DEATH IN THE GERMAN LINGUISTIC WORLD IMAGE

The aim of this paper is to shed light on linguocultural peculiarities of euphemisms that describe the natural death in the German linguistic world image. The research emerges from the quantitative and qualitative perspectives as the analysis is based on the semantic description of the euphemisms under consideration providing numerical characteristics. The associative-cognitive models representing the hypoconcept Natural Death demonstrate the attitude of the German society to the investigated phenomenon and its significance in this ethnoculture on the material of secondary nominations.

Key words: euphemism, natural death, German linguistic world image, associative-cognitive models, hypoconcept, secondary nominations.

The focus of modern linguistic studies is placed on the issue of language research taking into consideration cultural, historical, mental and worldview features of a particular ethnoculture, which is reflected in each language by concepts and categories.

This paper examines the universal hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH, which holds a prominent place in the linguistic world image of the German society. The culture of each ethnic group shows a specific attitude to the phenomenon of death and its role in the perception of the surrounding reality, which can be traced on the material of the secondary nominations of the investigated hypoconcept.

The emergence of the euphemistic phrases representing the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH is associated with a person’s fear of the inevitability of death and the tendency of indirect nomination of objects, processes, and phenomena connected with death.

According to the linguistic encyclopedic dictionary, the term “euphemism” means “emotionally neutral words and expressions applied instead of synonymous words and phrases that are perceived as unacceptable, derogatory, rude, vulgar, or taboo” (Arapova, p. 441). The paper analyzes and classifies the language means that are traced in the German linguistic space to avoid the direct use of lexemes der Tod ‘death’ and das Sterben ‘dying’. It is no wonder that people have always been afraid of death from the psychological point of view, thus they have avoided mentioning this term (Sandyha, p. 59). Moreover, some euphemisms deny the death referring to the fact that the eternal life awaits people and serves as a consolation for them (Carmen Mellado Blanco, p. 109).

The relevance of the topic is determined by the increased interest of linguists in the study of one of the basic and universal hypoconcepts NATURAL DEATH and its representation in the minds of the German ethnic group. The universal concept TOD has been studied in various aspects in the history of cognitive linguistics. S. Tronko analyzes the above mentioned concept on the empirical material of the German military prose, interpreting the emotional, axiological, and associative features of the concept TOD in terms of its field structure; S. Derbenov conducts a comprehensive research of the verbalization means of the individual-author’s concept TOD in G. Benn's lyrics; M. Stulin explores the concept "Death of Subject", "Death of God" as a dominant element in the German linguistic world image.

However, despite the active research that has led to the emergence of a number of scientific studies dealing with the investigation of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH, there is still no comprehensive analysis on the material of secondary nominations in the German linguoculture. Actually, this fact underlies the novelty of the proposed study.

The aim of the current issue is to identify the linguocultural features of the objectivation of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH on the material of euphemisms in the German language.

The paper focuses on the euphemisms that represent the Germans’ conception and beliefs about the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH.

The linguocultural features of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH have been investigated in the German linguistic world image.

The scope of the current study is reduced to the bank containing a total of about 240 euphemisms of the nominative field of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH, selected by the continuous sampling method from explanatory, synonymous, phraseological and encyclopedic dictionaries of the German language.

Theoretical value. The article contributes to the linguocultural studies focusing on the classification of euphemisms denoting natural death and revealing the connection between the language space and cultural features of the German nation.

Practical value. The results may be used in the courses of lexicology, linguocultural studies, stylistics and further scientific research.

The analysis of the material made it possible to conclude that the examined euphemistic nominations of natural death are characterized by a simple structure and implemented in 16 associative-cognitive models, in particular: death as sleep, death as journey, death as transition to the other world, death as return to the ancestors, death as farewell, death as eternal peace, death as the end of suffering, death as being in the sky, death as being under the ground, death as termination of physiological processes, death as termination of daily activities, death as separation of the soul from the body, death as the end of temporal space, death as the end of life, death as conducting calculations, death as burial in a coffin.

• DEATH AS SLEEP (16 units, 6.7 %)

The basis of the association of death and sleep is the physical similarity between a dead person and a person who has fallen asleep: closed eyes, a stationary motionless position, inactivity. At the lexical and phraseological levels, this model is embodied in the lexemes einschlafen ‘sanft, ohne Qualen sterben’ meaning ‘to die quietly, without agony’, entschlafen ‘eines sanften Todes sterben’, that is, ‘to die quietly’ and in the word combinations die Augen für immer schließen ‘to close the eyes forever’, nicht mehraufwachen ‘not to wake up any more’, den letzten Schlaf schlafen ‘to have the last sleep’, sanft und selig einschlafen ‘to sleep soundly’.

In the German linguistic culture, death is associated not only with closed eyes that can be observed during the sleep, but also with “broken” eyes, which is explained by the inability of a dead person to see the world: jemandes Augen brechen ‘lit. smb’s eyes break’, die Augen auf Null drehen ‘lit. to turn the eyes to zero’.

• DEATH AS TRAVEL (26 units, 10.9 %)

The comparison of death and travel is based on the religious belief in the immortality of the soul and in the continuation of life after the physical death of a person. In most world religions, it is considered that the soul of a person does not die but continues its existence in the form of a spirit. Christians, for example, believe that the soul can go up to paradise or go to hell after death on earth, which can be interpreted as a transition or a journey of the soul to another world.

Euphemisms that describe death as a journey include the verbs of the movement absegeln ‘to sail away’, abfahren ‘to drive away’, dahingehen ‘to go away, to leave’ and sometimes contain objects die Reise ‘a journey’, der Weg ‘a path’: die letzte Reise antreten ‘lit. to start the last journey’, den letzten Weg gehen ‘lit. to go the last path’.

The moribund state of a person is associated with the preparation of the person for a journey: Reisestiefelanziehen ‘lit. to put on travel boots’, das Bündel schnüren ‘lit. to tie a backpack for travelling’.

• DEATH AS RETURN TO ANCESTORS/ RETURN HOME (20 units, 8.4 %)

In German, death is also represented as a return to ancestors who are already in another world: zu den Großvätern gehen ‘lit. to go to grandfathers’, zu Ahnen abreiten ‘lit. to ride away to ancestors’, sich zu den Vätern versammeln ‘lit. to gather with the ancestors’. Some idioms emphasize the belief that the soul returns home after death, where it awaits eternal life: in die Ewigkeit heimkehren ‘lit. to return home for eternity’, die letzte Heimstatt finden ‘lit. to find the last home’.

It is believed that there is an innumerable quantity of dead people in the other world in comparison with the people who live on earth and in the German linguistic culture, the ancestors are compared with the “army” because the lexemes die Armee ‘army’, das Heer ‘army’ and der Haufen ‘heap’ denote a large number of people, objects, etc. in the figurative meaning: zur großen Armeeversammelt werden, abgehen ‘lit. to gather, to join the great army’, zu dem alten Haufen gehen (fahren) ‘lit. to go or drive to the big heap’.

The origin of the phraseological unit ins alte Heer gehen ‘lit. to go to the old army’ is of great interest. The German phrase das alte Heer ‘the old army’ is a personification of an army consisting of the souls of dead soldiers. During the battle of the Catalaunian Plains between the Romans and Huns, both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and according to the legend, the souls of the dead continued to fight for the next three days.

• DEATH AS TRANSITION TO THE OTHER WORLD (26 units, 10.9 %)

For the German nation it has always been important to believe that the soul does not die, but moves from one world to another, which is reflected in the German spiritual culture. In this case ‘another world’ means the extra-spatial, extraterrestrial, and timeless continuum, which can be paradise, heaven, hell, the other world, shadowland, abode of spirits, etc.: sich auf dem Weg ins Jenseits befinden ‘lit. to be on the way to the other world’.

The Christian notion of hell and heaven is objectivized in the following idioms: in den Himmelauffahren ‘lit. to ascend to heaven’, in die Hölle gehen ‘lit. to go to hell’, zu den Engeln gehen ‘lit. to go to the angels’.

According to the Christian belief, the afterlife is a better world than the life on earth, it is considered to be perpetual bliss: in eine bessere Welt gehen ‘lit. to go to a better world’, in die Glückseligkeit eingehen ‘lit. to enter into bliss’.

The Jordan River, which is associated with the transition of Israelites from the desert to the Promised Land, also symbolizes the Kingdom of Heaven: über den Jordan gehen ‘to cross the Jordan’, aufs andere Ufer gehen ‘lit. to go to the other bank of the river’. In the Christian literature, this transition is interpreted as the entrance into paradise where life continues after death. According to one version, the German people have created their own idiom, which is similar in the syntactic and semantic structure to the above mentioned phraseological unit: über die Wupper gehen ‘lit. to cross the Wupper River’. The name of the Jordan was changed to the Wupper, which flows in the North Rhine-Westphalia. On the other hand, the origin of this phraseologism is attributed to the location of a cemetery on one of the banks of the Wupper River and, according to the legend, prisoners condemned to death were led from the prison located on one bank of the river to the place of execution on the other bank.

Negative euphemistic expressions are used in order to avoid indicating the whereabouts of a person and his or her soul after death. These euphemisms contain information only about the absence of a human being among the living people in this world: nicht mehr unter den Lebenden weilen ‘to be no longer alive’, nicht mehr unter uns weilen ‘to be no more among us’.

• DEATH AS FAREWELL (17 units, 7.1 %)

The associative-cognitive model DEATH AS FAREWELL is found in many linguistic cultures of the world, in particular, in the German one. While abandoning the earthly world, a human being leaves not only relatives and acquaintances, but also takes farewell of everything that surrounded him or her in this world: für immer Abschied nehmen ‘to bid farewell forever’, von der Erde scheiden ‘lit. to take farewell of the earth’, Abschiedsgottesdienst ‘memorial service, farewell service’, die Abschiedsstunde ist gekommen ‘the time has come to say goodbye’.

Some euphemisms are made up of verbs of speech and borrowings from other languages: der Welt Ade sagen ‘to say adieu to the world’, der Welt Lebewohl sagen ‘to say farewell to the world’.

• DEATH AS ETERNAL PEACE (10 units, 4.2 %)

The Germans, like other Christian peoples, associate death with calm and peace, because the soul is deprived of suffering and finds eternal peace after the physical end of the mortal life, as it is stated in religious beliefs. This association is embodied in the following euphemisms: den ewigen Frieden finden ‘to find eternal peace’, für immer zur Ruhe gehen ‘to go to eternal rest’.

• DEATH AS END OF SUFFERING (9 units, 3.8 %)

A dead person is regarded not only to obtain eternal rest, but also to defecate his or her life of its misery, of all earthly hardships, illnesses and sufferings. In the linguistic field, this comparison is reflected in lexical units: dem Leiden ein Ende bereiten ‘lit. to put an end to suffering’, aller Sorgenledig sein ‘lit. to get rid of all concerns’. The euphemisms ausgelitten haben ‘lit. have suffered’, ausgekämpft haben ‘lit. have ended the fight’ are applied to depict a person who had a difficult life.

The fact that a deceased person is not burdened with any concerns, does not care about anything and, from a physiological point of view does not feel pain any longer, is fundamental for the euphemisms: j-n regt nichts mehr auf ‘lit. sb. has no concerns any more’, keine Seelenschmerzenhaben ‘lit. to have no soul anguish’, j-m tut kein Zahn mehr weh ‘sb. has no toothache any longer’.

• DEATH AS BEING UNDER THE EARTH (13 units, 5.5 %)

Lexical and phraseological units have been revealed in the German language, that are based on the description of the location and surroundings of a deceased person after burial. In the minds of the German people, the hypoconcept under consideration is associated with the earth and grave, covered with flowers, grass and a green lawn, and objectivated by the linguistic means of the secondary nomination: Gras von unten betrachten ‘lit. to look at the grass from below’, j-n deckt der grüne Rasen ‘lit. someone is covered by the green lawn’.

The meaning of the phrase ‘to be buried’ is embodied in the euphemism sich die Radieschen von unten ansehen ‘lit. to look at the radish from the bottom’. It is necessary to clarify that the lexeme Radieschen derives from the Latin word radix ‘roots’ and it was originally used in this sense, thus, the translation ‘lit. to look at the roots from the bottom’ is more precise in this case.

• DEATH AS BEING IN THE SKY (10 units, 4.2 %)

As contrasted with the previous model, which is based on the physical location of the body of a deceased person underground, this associative model underlies the soul’s entry into heaven. It emphasizes the fact that the Christian doctrine of paradise and hell plays a significant role for the German people: sich alles von oben angucken ‘lit. to look at everything from above’, die Welt vonoben besehen ‘lit. to look at the world from above’.

The Germans believe that the soul not only flies to heaven and watches the world from above, but also communicates, sings and plays with the angels who inhabit the paradise: mit den Engelnsprechen lernen ‘lit. to learn to talk to angels’, bei den Engeln auf Harfen spielen ‘lit. to play the harp with the angels’, mitden Engeln im Himmelchor singen ‘lit. to sing with the angels in the heavenly choir’.

• DEATH AS THE END OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES (24 units, 10.1 %)

All physiological processes stop after the death, first of all, it concerns heartbeat and respiratory standstill. These observations of changes that occur in the body witness the following euphemisms: den Odem aushauchen ‘lit. to blow one’s last breath’, den letzten Atemzug machen ‘to take one’s last breath’, j-s Herzhat aufgehört zu schlagen ‘smb’s heart has stopped beating’. Sometimes instead of exhalation the language means denoting moaning or death rales are distinguished: den letzten Seufzer tun ‘lit. to make the last moaning’.

The death is associated with the inability to hear and use the organs of speech and articulation and, as a result, to speak: keinen Pieps mehr von sich geben ‘lit. not to peep any more’, keinen Mucksmehr von sich machen ‘lit. to squeak no longer’, den Kuckuck nicht mehr rufen hören ‘lit. not to hear the cuckoo any longer’. The emergence of the latest euphemism is related to the belief of the ancient Germans in the supernatural power of the cuckoo. It was regarded that the cuckoo is under the ground in winter, and when it returns it can predict how many years a person will live.

• DEATH AS THE TERMINATION OF DAILY ACTIVITIES (17 units, 7.1 %)

German linguistic culture emphasizes the fact that a person is no longer engaged in any activity and does not perform any duties after death: das Essbesteck fallen lassen ‘lit. to let cutlery fall’, den Löffel hinlegen ‘lit. to put the spoon aside’, den Löffel wegwerfen ‘lit. to cast a spoon away’, den Löffel wegschmeißen ‘lit. to throw the spoon away’. The spoon is featured as a symbol of vital need for eating. If the spoon is put away, thrown away or given away, it means there is no need for food anymore. In ancient times, a wooden, iron or silver spoon was not a product of mass production, but a family heirloom that was inherited by the following generations: den Löffel abgeben ‘lit. to give a spoon’. In the military sphere, when a soldier dies, it is said that he has refused to take food: sich von der Verpflegung abmelden ‘to lose the number of one’s mass, lit. to refuse to eat’.

The approach of death is embodied in euphemisms, which state that the person performs an action for the last time: auf dem letzten Gras gehen ‘lit. to go on the last grass’, auf den letzten Sohlengehen ‘lit. to walk on the last sole’, aufder letzten Quinte fiedeln ‘lit. to play the last quint’. The deceased person does not have to wear boots or use an umbrella any longer: Schuhe stehen lassen ‘ lit. to leave the shoes standing’, den Schirm zumachen ‘to close an umbrella’.

• DEATH AS THE END OF TIME SPACE (9 units, 3.8 %)

The basis of this metaphorical-associative model is the transience and temporality of the human life, as each person is given a certain time to exist in this world: die Zeit ist gekommen ‘lit. the time has come’, j-s Uhr ist abgelaufen ‘lit. smb’s time has elapsed’. Euphemisms also include lexemes that indicate a more specific period of time, for instance, days, hours, minutes: j-s Stunde istgekommen ‘lit. smb’s hour has come’, j-s Tage sind gezählt ‘lit. smb’s days are num­bered’, j-s letztes Stündlein hat geschlagen ‘lit. smb’s last hour has struck’. In the idiomatic expressions mentioned above, death is perceived by people as the last minute, the last hour, or the last day, since life has its beginning and its end.

It is no coincidence that death is depicted as a skeleton holding a scythe or a sandglass in bony hands in the German culture, as evidenced by Hans Baldung’s painting “The Three Ages of Woman and Death” representing a skeleton with an hourglass next to three women of different age groups.

• DEATH AS SEPARATION OF THE SOUL FROM THE BODY (4 units, 1.7 %)

The units of the concept under study in this group demonstrate that the Germans believe in the immortality of the soul, that is, the soul leaves the body after death, and passes to the invisible world. In religion and philosophy, the soul is interpreted as an intangible, incorporeal substance, which is common to living beings and which defines their inner world.

The existence of euphemistic expressions which denote the separation of the soul from the body in the linguistic environment proves the fact that religion plays a significant role in the German society: den Geist aufgeben ‘lit. to give up the spirit’, die Seele aushauchen ‘lit. to exhale a soul’, die Seelesitzt auf der Zunge ‘lit. the soul sits on the tongue’, ‘death is always at hand’. In the above mentioned phraseologisms, the components die Seele ‘soul’ and der Geist ‘spirit’ are synonymous.

• DEATH AS THE END OF LIFE (19 units, 8 %)

Considering the physiological features of the deceased person, death is regarded as the end of life, that is, the end of earthly existence. According to the definition of the lexeme der Tod ‘death’ in the German Duden Explanatory Dictionary, Tod ist ‘Aufhören, Ende des Lebens; Augenblick aller Lebensfunktionen eines Lebewesens’, which means death is ‘the termination, the end of life, of all the vital functions of a human being or an animal’.

Most lexical units comprised in this group have components das Dasein ‘being’, das Leben ‘life’, das Ende (Tampen) ‘end’: das Ende finden ‘to find the end’, das Leben beenden ‘to finish life’, das Dasein vollenden ‘to end the existence’, am Tampen gehen ‘to be deadly ill’ (‘lit. to walk around the edge’).

The life is personified as the path of all earthly, transience and temporal things that a person must go through, for example, in the phraseologisms den Weg allen Fleisches gehen ‘lit. to walk the path of fleshly life’, den Weg des Irdischen gehen ‘lit. to walk the path of earthly life’. Metaphorically, life is perceived as a performance on the stage, accordingly, the end of the play is related to death. The emergence of phraseologisms such as von der Bühne (des Lebens) abtreten ‘lit. to get off the stage of life’, vom Schauplatz abtreten ‘lit. to leave the scene’ is based on this comparison.

• DEATH AS BURIAL IN A COFFIN (13 units, 5.5 %)

The funeral rites and customs in the German-speaking world are closely connected with the concept of death, which is metaphorically depicted as burying a dead person in a coffin or a grave: ins Grab sinken ‘lit. to descend into the grave’, zur Grube fahren ‘lit. to go to the grave’.

Such language means as die Bretter ‘boards’ or die Kiste ‘a drawer’ are used in some phraseologisms, instead of ‘coffin’: in die Kiste springen ‘lit. to jump into the drawer’, in die Brettergehen ‘lit. to go to the boards’.

The following euphemisms convey the meaning of approaching death and portray a person standing with one foot in a grave or tomb: mit einem Fuß im Grabe stehen ‘lit. to stand with one foot in the grave’, mit einem Bein im Grabe stehen ‘lit. stand with one leg in the grave’.

• DEATH AS CONDUCTING CALCULATIONS (5 units, 2.1 %)

Consumerism, which is a feature of the Western society, is reflected in German euphemisms: der Natur den Tribut entrichten ‘lit. to pay tribute to nature’, mit dem Leben zahlen ‘lit. to pay with life’, die Rechnung mit dem Himmel machen ‘lit. to perform calculations with the sky’.

The lexemes der Tribut ‘tribute’, der Zoll ‘customs’, zahlen ‘to pay’, bezahlen ‘to pay’, die Rechnung ‘a bill’ emphasize the consumptive attitude of the Germans to their surroundings and life.

In summary, the conducted research leads to the conclusions stated below.

In the German linguistic world image the topic of death is a taboo, leading to the emergence of secondary nominations and euphemisms (Dietz, 263). The present findings confirm that the Christian, pagan, socio-cultural, and folk beliefs about death are preserved in the German ethnoculture and are objectified in idiomatic and euphemistic expressions in the German-speaking world.

The variety of lexico-semantic components of the euphemisms under analysis indicates a high level of synonymy of verbalizing of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH.

As a result of the study, 16 associative-cognitive models have been found on the material of the secondary nominations of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH. Such metaphorical models as Death as a Journey and Death is a Transition to Another World prevail in the world view of the Germans. This is due to a strong belief that the human soul goes on a journey after death, leaves the world of human beings and travels to another world, and provides evidence for the high spiritual culture of the Germans, who place the utmost importance on the religion. The models Death as Conducting Calculations and Death as Separation of the Soul from the Body have appeared to be the least numerous.

The German linguistic culture was influenced by religious notions of death, which is represented in the metaphorical models comparing death with return to ancestors, emphasizing the location of a soul in heaven or in the afterlife. The findings indicate linguocultural aspects of ancient customs and traditions of the Germans on the basis of the profound analysis of euphemisms.

In order to characterize the peculiarities of the actualization of the secondary nominations of the hypoconcept NATURAL DEATH in the German Linguistic World Image, it is necessary to investigate this phenomenon on the material of military prose of the XX–XXI centuries, which determines the prospects of further linguistic research.

References

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