Zoometaphor plays a very important role in linguistics, especially in contrastive studies, and has long attracted the attention of both Russian and Chinese linguists 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.
动物比喻在语言学中,尤其是在对比研究中发挥着非常重要的作用。并且长期以来引起了俄罗斯和中国语言学家的关注,也对这种借喻在政治话语中的作用表现出浓厚的兴趣。俄罗斯语言学家A.P. Chudinov认为,每个具体的借喻都反映一个人的世界观,从而有助于建立一个特定的、具有共同借喻形象的世界观。俄罗斯和中国文化特征的对动物世界具有认识在涉及两种语言的政治话语中都被放大。中国语言学家薛亚红和郭卫海认为,“人是个动物”的概念借喻是认知和表达语言知识的最重要手段之一。在政治话语上用动物借喻使政治家选择一种更有效和有效的方式来表达其政治观点,从而对目标受众施加更大的影响。本文分析了带有“熊”和"龙"成分的借喻。这两个词在概念化俄罗斯和中国人民的语言世界观中起着重要作用,并用借喻来代表两种文化。熊的形象借喻了俄罗斯的政治权威。“熊”这词的使用代表“力量”,有助于形成可以保护自己的强大国家的正面形象。同样,龙代表中国,在中国人眼中,它是神圣、崇高、强大和成功的一切的象征,因此,它表明中国是一个有权威的国家。文章强调,龙具有神话渊源,并引起不同的联想。因此在谈到中国文化时,宜使用“龙”而不是“龙”。对西方政治话语中带有熊和龙成分的隐喻的分析表明,各自的隐喻可以传递消极态度,这表明西方政客对俄罗斯和中国的争议态度。