Article. 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. References Arapova, N. S. Linguistic encyclopedic
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disfemismos. Revista de Filología Alemana, vol. 21, 2013, pp. 105–125. Deutsche Idiomatik. Wörterbuch der deutschen
Redewendungen im Kontext / Hans Schemann, Berlin, 2011. – 1040 S. Dietz, Heinz-Ulrich. Rhetorik in der Phraseologie.
Zur Bedeutung rhetorischer Stilelemente im idiomatischenWortschatz des
Deutschen. Tübingen, 1999. Duden: Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. –
Access Mode: duden.de/ Tronko, S. S. Concept Tod in the German linguistic world image and its
objectivation in the war prose. Irkutsk, 2010. Abstract. 21 p. Print. Sandyha, L. O. Symbols of Death and English
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