ANIMALISTIC METAPHOR IN THE MODERN POLITICAL MEDIA DISCOURSE

The purpose of this article is to analyze the dynamics of zoomorphic metaphors in the political media discourse, for which the origins of the metaphorical imagery of animalisms are investigated and the reasons for the predominance of metaphors with varying degrees of invectivity are identified. Zoomorphisms in the political media discourse confirm the idea that a metaphor is not just an eloquent means; it is a way of thinking, comprehending social life, as well as a way of expressing a subjective attitude to the speech object. Categorization and conceptualization of the political fragment of the world picture are realized through metaphorical comprehension of animalisms, which also affects the formation of the connotative part of the media discourse: zoomorphic units are an indispensable constituent part in the system of axiological tools. On the material of media texts of 2022, the authors tried to present the possibilities of combining metaphorical pejorativeness with the principles of tolerant communication, which can be defined as the beginning of a new stage of stabilization of the zoomorphic code in Russian linguoculture. Based on the ideas of the conceptual essence of a metaphor, the authors make a cognitivediscursive and distributive analysis of animalistic metaphors used in modern media. To particularly clarify the specifics of a modern zoomorphic metaphor, the authors applied elements of a diachronic approach: a comparison with zoomorphisms characteristic of other historical periods. © 2022, MSU Publishing House. All rights reserved.