Pejorative Connotation of Proverbs and Sayings with Zoonym in the Russian , German and Tatar Languages

The problem of the interaction of language and culture is of interest to many scientists nowadays. Proverbs and sayings are units which contain bits of folk wisdom, values and beliefs of the nation. One of the ways to study a culture is to analyze its proverbs and sayings. The aim of the study was to compare paremiological units, namely proverbs and sayings, with zoonym components of three typologically unrelated languages: Russian, German and Tatar. The article deals with proverbs and sayings with the names of domestic animals only. In the study we used such methods as descriptive, structural, interpretative, continuous sampling method and statistical method. The analysis of the selected material revealed 847 Russian, 386 German and Tatar 1634 proverbs and sayings with the domestic animal components, 20 zoonyms in total, including names of birds. The study showed that paremiological units with the names of domestic animals in some cases carry the same connotative semes, mostly pejorative, in all three languages. However, the same component of proverbs in a particular language may have the opposite meaning depending on the speech situation. Such pejorative connotative semes as [stupidity, ignorance], [idleness, laziness], [cowardice], [greed] and etc. were revealed in numerous Russian, German and Tatar proverbs and sayings. The materials of the study may be used in cultural linguistics, cognitive linguistics, cultural studies and phraseology.


The Source of Animal Proverbs
The main sources of paremiological units, proverbs and sayings, are the ancient culture, the Bible, the Koran and, of course, the folk wisdom.Since ancient times animals, whose names are used in the proverbs and sayings under consideration, have been companions of people, their friends and enemies.Some animals, like domestic and wild forest dwellers, were the source of people's livelihood, others were dangerous to people.
People generally associated animals with benefit or harm, mainly in relation to themselves, to human beings.Having tamed some animals, like sheep, goat, cattle, donkey, chicken and pig which gave milk, eggs, meat, wool and skin or were used as a pack animals, people realized the importance of domestic animals in their life.For centuries people have been watching animals, learning their habits and character, and using this knowledge to give a vivid description of people's merits and disadvantages.

The Connotative Meaning of Proverbs
Every nation has its own worldview reflected in the language which depends on the customs and traditions, on the occupation and the lifestyle of the nation, which keeps ethno-cultural information and expresses the specific ethnic mentality (Akhmat'yanova, 2014).For centuries proverbs and sayings have been keeping rules of folk wisdom, passed from generation to generation, so they carry culturally important information.Zoonyms as components of paremiological units realize a series of connotative semes, depending on various associations connected with animals.The connotation is based on social, regional, cultural and other factors, as well as emotionally conditioned factors (Ter-Minassova, 2008).E.F.Arsentieva considers connotation as "additional information" in relation to the denotative and significative components of the meaning known as a "set of semantic layers" (Arsentieva, 1989).According to E.F.Arsentieva, the connotative meaning of phraseological units (we consider proverbs and sayings as one of the types of phraseological units) consists of the following components: • evaluative component, the positive or negative connotation connected with extralinguistic factors; • emotional component, "feelings and emotions expressed in phraseological meaning" from condemnation to compassion; • expressive component, the "intensity of expression" of the first two components; • functional-stylistic component which defines the sphere of the use of phraseological units, from bookish to colloquial style, and their stylistic reference (Arsentieva, 1989).
Evaluative component of the connotative meaning carries the cultural element, because "the evaluation of certain human qualities can be regarded as characteristics of ethical norms, rules of social life and social behavior, the attitude of the nation to the world, other nations and cultures through its own language and culture" (Ter-Minassova, 2008).
The qualities attributed to animals in proverbs and sayings figuratively and metaphorically describe people's appearance, their character, behavior, actions and deeds, as well as a certain situation or a phenomenon based on the experience gained by the nation, by the native speakers.These qualities are realized in the form of meliorative and pejorative connotative semes (Savinkina, 1987).Moreover, the same components in different proverbs and sayings of each particular language can have both positive and negative connotations, depending on the speech situation.

Materials and Methods
We analyzed 847 Russian, 386 German and Tatar 1634 paremiological units with the names of domestic animals which were selected by continuous sampling method from the dictionaries of proverbs and sayings.The structural analysis of proverbs and sayings in the Russian, German and Tatar languages revealed 20 language units, the names of domestic animals, including the names of birds.Method of statistical analysis allowed us to give quantitative characteristics of the zoonym components of paremias in the analyzed languages and to determine the frequency of their use.
The quantitative characteristics of paremiological units with domestic animal components in the Russian, German and Tatar languages is presented in Table 1  The semantic analysis of selected proverbs and sayings in three languages showed that they contain 30 meliorative and 69 pejorative semes (see Table 2).According to Table 2, pejorative semes prevail in all three languages.There are 57 pejorative semes in the Russian language, 48 in German and 62 in Tatar.

Results
The results of the analysis show the prevalence of the pejorative connotative semes expressed by the names of domestic animals in paremiological units of the Russian, German and Tatar languages.The pejorative semes and zoonym components of proverbs and sayings in the three analyzed languages are shown in In these examples a donkey is a stupid, ignorant person.The component donkey (осёл, Esel, ишəк) has stable associations in the analyzed languages which are enhanced by the context of paremiological units.
In the Tatar language the word donkey (ишəк) also symbolizes an obstinate person.The seme [obstinacy] is realized in the following proverb: Ишəк алга тарта, койрыгы артка тарта [The donkey goes forward, but his tail pulls him back].
This Tatar proverb with the component donkey (ишəк) refers to people who cannot succeed due to their obstinacy, even if they have good intentions.
The seme [obstinacy] was not revealed in the Russian and German paremiological units with zoonym component.
The seme [stupidity, ignorance] in German and Tatar is expressed in proverbs and saying with the component bull (Ochse, үгез): German: Ochsen muß man schön aus dem Wege gehen [You should stay away from bulls (You should avoid stupid people)]; Tatar: Бер үгезгə бер юкə мунчак җитəр [A lime-tree rope is enough for a bull (It's easy to control a stupid person)].
In the Russian language proverbs with the words calf and bull-calf have the same meaning: Поехал за море телёнком, воротился бычком [Left home as a calf and returned as a bull-calf (returned no wiser than he went)].
Proverbs with the zoonym goose contain the seme [stupidity, ignorance] only in the German language: Wenn die Gänse Wasser sehen, müssen sie trinken [When geese see water, they have to drink].
The same connotative seme is expressed in the Tatar proverbs with the words goat (кəҗə) and ewe (сарык): Кəҗəнең сакалы озын да акылы кыска [The goat has a long beard but a narrow mind]; Кəҗə койрык күтəрə дип, сарык та койрыгын күтəргəн [When the goat turns up its tail, the ewe does the same], it means that stupid people don't have their own opinion.
The seme [idleness, laziness] was revealed in all three languages.First of all, it is expressed in the Russian, German and Tatar paremiological units with component dog (собака, Hund, эт): The proverbs with the word dog meaning [idleness, laziness] are quite numerous in Tatar.We found 8 Tatar paremiological units in which the dog (эт) is a symbol of laziness.The dog lies, does nothing and gets food: Эшсез ятып эт туена, Бушка ятып бет туена.
In the Russian language the seme [idleness, laziness] is revealed in the proverbs with the words сat (кошка) and tomcat (кот): Ленивой кошке мышей не поймать [A lazy cat catches no mice]; Ленивому коту мыши хвост отгрызли [The mice bit off lazy tomcat's tail], and also in the Tatar language with the word cat (песи): Киштəдəге казылык өзелеп төшə дип песи ачка үлгəн [The cat died of hunger thinking that the sausage would fall from the shelf itself].
German and Tatar paremiologocal units containing the word bull (Ochse, үгез) are also used to describe lazy people: German: Die Krippe geht nicht zum Ochsen [Feeding rack doesn't come to bull]; Tatar: Үгез үшəнгə күрə, көтүгə тəкə баш [The bull is so lazy, that the herd is headed by the ram].
Only in the German language the seme [idleness, laziness] is revealed in the proverbs and sayings with the zoonym pig (Schwein): Die Erde ist stets gefroren für faule Schweine [For a lazy pig the ground is always frozen].
The examples with the components hen (тавык) and duck (үрдəк) describe people who put off everything till the last minute.

Discussions
There have been numerous studies of proverbs and sayings with zoonym components in different languages: Russian, German, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, etc., including the comparative analysis of paremiological units with zoonyms of two or more languages.For example, a recent study by A.I. Lyzlov is devoted to the analysis of the evaluative semantic criteria expressed in paremiological units of the Russian, English and German languages in which the figurative base is represented by the zoonymic image "fish" (Lyzlov, 2014).But the novelty of our study is due to the interlanguage analysis of three typologically unrelated languages, Russian, German and Tatar, as well as the thorough analysis of proverbs and sayings with domestic animal components applying different methods, such as descriptive, structural, interpretative, statistical and continuous sampling method.

Conclusion
The most frequently used paremiological units of the Russian, German and Tatar languages are the ones which contain the names of domestic animals related to agriculture: cattle, pigs, poultry, as well as pets, which have always been close to people.
The analysis of proverbs and sayings with zoonyms showed the prevalence of pejorative connotative semes in these paremiolgical units in all three languages.The paremias of the Russian, German and Tatar languages have both common and different contexts, sometimes the same pejorative connotative semes are revealed in three languages.
The presence of common evaluative semes is first of all connected with material and cultural values, social and economic life of the nation, their history, psychophysiological human activity, phenomena of animate and inanimate nature, which help the native speakers of the analyzed languages to acquire the same or similar logical images.
The use of different names of the domestic animals which carry the same connotative semes in paremiological units of the Russian, German and Tatar languages are explained by the presence of some associative differences due to extralinguistic factors.
below.Table1.Quantitative characteristics of proverbs and sayings with domestic animal components in the Russian, German and Tatar languages

Table 2 .
Quantitative characteristics of meliorative and pejorative connotative semes in the Russian, German and Tatar languages

Table 3 .
Pejorative connotative semes in proverbs and sayings with zoonym in the Russian, German and Tatar languages According to Table3, the seme [stupidity, ignorance] is present in proverbs and sayings of all three languages, Russian, German and Tatar.First of all, these qualities are associated with donkey.A large number of paremiological units with the component donkey (осёл, Esel, ишəк) express stupidity and ignorance.
is also realized in Russian and German paremiological units containing the word cow (корова, Kuh):Only Russian paremiological units with names of such domestic animals as ram (баран), dog (собака) and hen (курица) are used to describe a stupid, ignorant person:Овца без вымени -баран [A sheep without udder is a ram].This saying is used to describe a person without particular knowledge.Глупая собака громче лает [A stupid dog barks louder].