Cognitive mechanisms of the formation of new words in German media

Kofanova Galina Petrovna PhD in Philology head of the Department of Foreign Languages at Kaliningrad State Technical University 236022, Russia, Kaliningradskaya oblast', g. Kaliningrad, ul. Sovetskii Prospekt, 1 galina.kofanova@klgtu.ru Other publications by this author

Ваганова Екатерина Yur'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-8877-5975 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Kaliningrad State Technical University 236022, Russia, Kaliningradskaya oblast', g. Kaliningradskaya, ul. Sovetskii Prospekt, 1 Wagner17@rambler.ru

Introduction Events of a global scale, refracted in the public consciousness, are reflected in the linguistic material and are the cause of certain transformations of social discourse.  The discourse related to the topic of the coronavirus pandemic arouses the unconditional interest of researchers in many scientific fields and disciplines, since modern humanity for the first time faced a similar phenomenon on a global scale, experienced fear of an unfamiliar threat. The society of almost the entire globe for the first time realized the seriousness of the consequences of mass isolation in all spheres of human activity – from the economy to mental health. People are faced with a new reality and new rules of existence in this reality. In the process of awareness, explanation, evaluation of the coronavirus and its consequences and against the background of the highest emotional and cognitive tension in the discourse, new concepts have emerged that have received the most diverse linguistic implementation. The scientific community was keenly interested in the rapid process of filling language gaps in different languages around the world, which followed the emergence of new non-linguistic realities, values and events of the so-called coronavirus era. The speed of the process of the emergence of new words and their entry into the language environment can easily be explained by the global spread of new means of communication, the possibilities of interactive word-making of Internet users in various blogs, chat rooms, etc. Domestic linguists quickly joined the current agenda. Below we list some scientific studies that aroused our interest in the process of preparing the study. Russian Russian of the Coronavirus Era and the dictionary "Russian Language of the Coronavirus era" are of particular interest ^[1]. The authors of this detailed and relevant study touch upon a wide range of linguistic events of the modern Russian language in the first year of the pandemic. One can also highlight the works on the study of word formation models in modern Russian media ^[2] and lexical innovations of the Russian language in the coronavirus period ^[3]. In German, I. B. Akkuratova noted "... the tendency towards linguistic economy and brevity of utterance ..." as one of the important trends of modern neologisms, and also described several types of neologisms, among which a group of lexemes-composites with metaphorical meaning presented particular interest for our work. The main pragmatic task of such a token is to create "... a capacious and informative-rich neologism-a composite designed to evaluate new phenomena, express expression, and also evoke certain emotions and the recipient" ^[4]. Neologisms and occasionalisms of the German language of the coronavirus period, as well as various ways of word formation and word usage came into the field of view of linguists ^[5-10].

The theoretical basis of our research was the work of Russian linguists in the field of cognitive linguistics, in particular, research on the theory of discursive analysis by E.S. Kubryakova ^[11]; on cognitive semantics by N.N. Boldyrev ^[12]; on conceptualization and word formation by D.A.Salkova ^[13]; as well as a cognitive-pragmatic approach to neology by V.I. Zabotkina ^[14].

The processes of formation of new concepts and their specifics during the pandemic of coronavirus infection

The identification of concepts in this study is carried out from the analysis of the already created sign to the establishment of the concept and its environment. When analyzing the discourse, we proceed from the position that it is not a kind of frozen substance, but, on the contrary, it is an active reflection of public opinion, its assessments of a particular situation and changes depending on the relevance of the topic. In our opinion, the discourse contains key concepts implemented by language means that reflect the "hot" topic. We start from the fact that discourse has a core, near and far peripheries. The core concentrates the most relevant concepts. The less relevant the concept is, the further on the periphery it is. Depending on the situation, on the aggravation of a particular topic, the core and the periphery may change places. In the current discourse of the German media in 2022, for obvious reasons, the topic of the pandemic has shifted to the periphery of the discursive field, but it seems relevant to us to investigate it, since it is here that a large corpus of new concepts has emerged.

Nuclear concepts forming conceptual fields are distinguished in the discourse. The nuclear concepts of the discourse on the topic of coronavirus include, for example, such as the concept "crown" - "Corona", "protective mask" - "Mundnasenschutz", "distance" - "Distanz", "lockdown" - "Lockdown", "panic" - "Panick".

Conceptual fields include components that additionally represent the nuclear concept with all emotive shades: neutral, positive and negative connotations, irony, condemnation, expression of fear, etc. They appeared in the process of the discourse unfolding and are the result of reflecting the objective reality associated with the coronavirus.

The key to understanding the specifics of conceptualization and identification of individual components of the concept is often given by the word-formation structure of the word. At the same time, the cognitive mechanism of profiling plays an important role, bringing to the fore the most important characteristics of concepts in the process of interpretation. In our case, the profiling component will be the basic concept.

A significant part of the concepts of the discourse devoted to the pandemic is verbalized by lexical units, where the "Corona" component has become the profiling component, which concentrates the main meaning of the resulting lexeme. The syntactic derivatives that have arisen in this way pull the phrase into a single unit, making the name capacious, convenient for use, functionally orienting the word to fulfill the role of the topic in the text. In this case, we observe a change in the conceptual structure and the formation of new concepts.

So, the lexemes Schlaf, Scham, Speck, Hund outside the discourse on the topic of coronavirus have well-known standard dictionary meanings: sleep, shame, fat, dog. The "Corona" component changes the original conceptual structure: Corona-Schlaf, Corona-Scham, Corona-Speck, Corona-Hund, and often the correct interpretation of the concept is possible only if there is certain background knowledge: socio-cultural, scientific, everyday; or when analyzing discourse, we are talking about an inferent meaning.

The Corona-Scham concept has a binary conceptual structure in the relevant discourse: on the one hand, it is understood as a means of public censure of persons who do not comply with the norms of behavior established during the pandemic (wearing a mask, keeping a distance, and so on):

ffentliches Anprangern von Personen, die sich w?hrend der COVID-19-Pandemie (vermeintlich) nicht an die auf politische Anordnung hin geltenden Abstands- und Hygienevorschriften, Reiseempfehlungen o.?. halten.

On the other hand, the concept is formed on the basis of the concept with the component Scham – Flugscham – it's a shame to fly, and denotes the presence of an unpleasant sensation that arises due to existing limitations, and the occurrence of these sensations is perceived as shameful.

Was gestern Flug- oder Fleisch-Scham war, ist heute "Corona-Scham".

 As an experiment, several Russian-speaking interpreters who speak German as a foreign language were interviewed in order to find out how they understand the phrase explicating the concept of Corona-Hund. Only one interpreter out of 5 was close to the correct understanding of the phrase. In the Russian language consciousness, studies show that negative evaluation characteristics prevail when the word "dog" is mentioned: "dog life", "tired like a dog", hungry like a dog".  Therefore, the main interpretation of this concept was reduced to a negative characteristic of the disease – "dog disease". 

The analysis of the discourse made it possible to interpret the concept and understand the meaning of the verbalizing phrase in the German language. For example:

«Mit der Corona-Pandemie entdecken die Deutschen ihre Liebe zum Tier. Vor allem Katzen und Hunde sind gefragt, die traditionellen Lieblingstiere hierzulande: Schon vor Beginn der Pandemie lebte in jedem vierten deutschen Haushalt eine Katze, in jedem f?nften ein Hund. Jetzt, in Zeiten von Kontakt- und Ausgangsbeschr?nkungen, Einsamkeit und vielen Menschen mit sehr viel Zeit schie?en die Anfragen massiv in die H?he. Nach Angaben des Verbands f?r das deutsche Hundewesen (VDH) sind im Jahr 2020 rund 20 Prozent mehr Hunde gekauft worden als in den Jahren davor.» ^[15]

During the pandemic, during the period of isolation, German residents began to take animals from the shelter very actively, mainly dogs. According to the German Kennel Union, 20% more dogs were bought in 2020 than in previous years. This is due to the consequences of isolation, when people felt lonely and could not freely go outside. Walking with dogs was allowed. In Russian, it is difficult to find an equivalent to the German composite, its meaning is inferent, - Corona-Hund – a dog that was bought during the pandemic, in order not to feel lonely and be able to go outside.

The possibilities of German word formation often allow you to verbalize concepts briefly and concisely; lexemes sound very harmonious in German and often have no equivalents in Russian. Often a direct translation does not convey all the semantic charm that lies in the German word. And it is possible to understand it only when analyzing the discourse. For example, the Kabelsalat token is the so–called set of cables from various devices and gadgets tangled into one tangle.

The naming that explicates the concept of "Corona-Speck" is also expressive, it complements a number of already existing naming types of so-called fat: Winterspeck, Babyspeck, Kummerspeck. In each of the concepts implemented by these tokens, the characteristic of "fat" and the reason for its appearance are profiled. The conceptual field assumes the presence of such characteristics as: to get better, that is, to get fat as a result, or because of something. As a rule, they get fat in winter, after the birth of a child, in sadness, in anguish. And finally, because of a sedentary lifestyle, in this case because of isolation during a pandemic.

A significant corpus of new words arose as a result of language contamination, which is based on the cognitive mechanism of concept integration, in which the original conceptual structure changes, new concepts are formed under the influence of the discursive environment. A change in the conceptual structure leads to the emergence of language tools that convey new conceptual content.

For example: Munaske, MuNaSchu, Mundschmutz, Maskne, Panikdemie, Pandem?de.

Below we will look at some examples, as well as analyze the concepts formed on the basis of the basic concepts of "Maske" and "Panik" discourse on the topic of coronavirus infection.  

The MuNaSchu lexeme, abbreviated from Mundnasenschutz, appeared as a result of such a cognitive operation as lexical modeling, which is used to shorten a long composite for more convenient use in speech. The token does not contain evaluative components, and the explicated concept is neutral. However, this concept has remained one of the most relevant in the media discourse for quite a long time, because the reality behind it has become almost the main attribute in the life of modern society. For example:

«Gesicht zeigen ohne Gesicht zu zeigen: Der #MuNaSchu sch?tzt uns & unsere Liebsten. Mittlerweile ist er eines der wichtigsten Alltagsaccessoires. Kommentiert und schickt uns eure #MuNaSchu-Selfies. Lasst uns gemeinsam ein Bild der F?rsorge & des Zusammenhalts um die Welt schicken». ^[16]

The protective mask is one of the most important everyday accessories - "eines der wichtigsten Alltagsaccessoires", and the protection of us and our loved ones - "sch?tzt uns & unsere Liebsten", and the symbol of care and unity "Bild der F?rsorge & des Zusammenhalts".

The concept of Maskne is contamination from Maske and Acne, so called skin irritation (pimples, redness, etc.) caused by wearing a protective mask. «Hautirritation (Pickel, R?tungen usw.) aufgrund des Tragens eines Mund-Nasen-Schutzes» ^[16]

For example: "Derzeit geh?rt es zum neuen Alltag, sich mehrmals im Lauf des Tages die Behelfsmaske auf- und wieder abzusetzen. Das hat Folgen f?r die Haut: Das st?ndige Reiben, aber auch Bakterien und R?ckst?nde von Talg, Make-up oder Abgasen gelangen so spielend leicht auf die sensible Gesichtshaut. Hinzu kommt, dass viele Menschen ihren Mund-Nasen-Schutz nicht ausreichend h?ufig und hei? genug reinigen. Dass die eigene Haut an "Maskne" leidet, also einer Akne-?hnlichen Erscheinung, macht sich durch unterschiedliche Hautprobleme bemerkbar. Typisch sind jedoch unreine Haut, Mitesser und Pickel, ebenso kann es zu R?tungen und Juckreiz kommen». ^[16]

The discursive environment reveals negative connotations of the concept expressed by phrases:  Das st?ndige Reiben, Bakterien, Haut leidet, Hautprobleme.

In addition, as the discourse shows, the obligation to wear a mask during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is perceived as a restriction of fundamental rights.

As the next example, let's consider a concept formed on the basis of a cognitive metaphor, verbalized by the lexeme Gesichtskondome (protective mask), in which the profile is a component to ondome. For example:

«Es lebe das Gesichtskondom!  Es ist unverantwortlicher Unsinn gegen den Mund- und Nasenschutz ins Feld gef?hrt worden, als er Pflicht wurde in Bussen, Bahnen und L?den. Inzwischen wei? man, wie effizient dieses simple Mittel sch?tzt». ^[16]

The analysis of the discursive environment allows us to conclude that the naming arose on the basis of not visual, but functional similarity. In this case, we can talk about combining the profiling mechanism with the mechanism of conceptual comparison ^{[17, p.142]}

A disposable protective mask also poorly protects against covid infection, as well as a remedy for unwanted pregnancy To ondome.

Concepts and lexemes explicating them with the profiling component "Pandemie", veiled by the operation of contamination, are interesting:

The naming of Panikdemie, formed in the public consciousness, is based on the cognitive operation "association". This token is a linguistic demonstration of the fusion of two concepts (blending) – the concept of "Panik" and the concept of "Pandemie".

According to the same principle, the concepts "Coronoia" and "Coronials" were formed, where the concepts "Paranoia" and "Millennials" were merged.

Another token with the profile component "Pandemie" is Pandem ? de, where a new concept arose based on the merger of the concepts "Pandemie" and "hundem?de" – tired of anything, literally "tired like a dog". This concept is at the same time an assessment of the state of society during a pandemic.

In the conceptual field of the basic concept of "Panik", on the basis of such a cognitive operation as a cognitive metaphor, the concept of Hamsteritis arose - "panic tendency to unnecessarily large stocks of certain products", in our case during a pandemic. For example:

«Panikk?ufe, Hamsteritis und fehlende LKW-Fahrer sorgen f?r leere Regale in Gro?m?rkten. Dabei sollen sie den Bedarf der Dienstleister decken, die wiederum ein St?ck Normalit?t sichern, in Zeiten der notwendigen Isolation. Wir wollen als Gewerbetreibende nicht im Einzelhandel Waren kaufen, die dann anderen Privathaushalten fehlen w?rden. Bitte kauft keine gewerblichen Gren zu privaten Zwecken». ^[16]

In addition to the discursive environment, the identifier is borrowed from the Greek ending –itis, which most often denotes some contagious disease: Bronchitis, Kolitis, Meningitis. In the given example, there is a "playful" transfer in order to demonstrate behavior that is perceived as exaggerated, somewhat inappropriate and, to a certain extent, unhealthy. For example:

«krankhafte Neigung dazu, unn?tig gro?e Vorr?te an bestimmten Produkten in Privathaushalten (w?hrend der COVID-19-Pandemie) anzulegen» ^[16]

One of the interesting examples in the conceptual field "Distanz" is the concept "Babyelefant". For example:

«Woher kommt die neue Ma?einheit "Babyelefant"?  Im Zuge der Corona-Krise wird in einem Werbespot der Bundesregierung und dem Roten Kreuz kommuniziert, dass wir beispielsweise in der Apotheke den Abstand eines Babyelefanten einhalten sollen». ^[16]

It is interesting to consider the appearance of a new concept "Babyelefant". In connection with the coronavirus, in one of the commercials of the federal government and the Red Cross, an excellent way was found to convey to the population information about the need to keep a distance, a distance as long as an elephant should be observed in a pharmacy. In this case, a cognitive metaphor came to the rescue – a means of perceiving one area through another, as an optimal means of visualization. Its use in this case is based on the existence of a matching experience in the community, all approximately represent the length of the baby elephant, and children who do not have the skills of visual distance assessment, and adults.

The analysis of the discourse made it possible to inventory such a concept as "Maske – Ironie der Geschichte" in the conceptual sphere of "Maske".

This concept is formed in the political plane and intersects with the concept sphere of "Emigrant". The discourse on emigration was relevant a few years ago, when Europe faced a huge number of refugees from Africa and Asia. One of the most important problems that arose at that time was the problem of Islamic women wearing headdresses covering their faces. This tradition was used by terrorists for the purpose of disguise, so the authorities tried to solve this problem for security reasons. The wearing of face-covering headscarves was prohibited in public places. For example:

«Jahrelang besch?ftigten sich Politiker und Datensch?tzer, Polizeibeamte und Richter mit der Frage, ob Menschen in der ?ffentlichkeit ihr Gesicht gezielt verdecken d?rfen – sei es nun aus religi?sen Gr?nden mit einer Burka oder mit einer Sturmhaube aus dem Wunsch heraus, auf  Demonstrationen nicht erkannt zu werden. Der gesellschaftliche Trend war eindeutig: Gesichter sollten immer sichtbar sein, das entspreche der Kultur freiheitlicher Gesellschaftsordnungen». ^[16]

The pandemic turned this ban into a necessity within a few weeks.

Isn't this the irony of history!

Conclusions

The analysis of the German media discourse during the coronavirus pandemic revealed new basic concepts and concepts-components that form conceptual fields. The basic concepts we attributed, for example, such as "Corona", "Mundnasenschutz", "Distanz", "Lockdown", "Panick". As a result of the study, it was concluded that the basic concepts form conceptual fields, including component concepts, the methods of language verbalization of which imply the presence of emotive and evaluative components. The studied and described language material allows us to conclude that the main cognitive mechanisms of concept formation are profiling, conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and contamination.