Domain MENSCH: Conceptual Content In Literary And Media Discourses

Abstract

This study regards the concept MENSCH in German literary and media discourses in terms of cognitive linguistics. The analysis of the conceptual content of the domain Mensch in German literary and media discourses is carried out within an anthropocentric approach, where the individual is in the very center, whereas the periphery is taken by the surrounding objects that are classified by the individual with due regard to his interests, knowledge, status, and other factors. The objective of this study is to delineate the parcelle of the concept MENSCH, its ethno specific characteristics, and the most representative elements within literary and media discourses. The initial phase of the research focused on finding all verbalizations of the concept MENSCH inside thematically cohesive and pragmatically connected text segments. The second stage aimed at grouping the concepts into suitable semantic categories, or parcelles. The purpose of the final stage was to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the domains in order to elaborate the conceptual framework of the Mensch domain. Relying on the DWDS-Kernkorpus (which contains 13,678 verbalizers with the lexeme Mensch), the study differentiates four essential parcelles: (1) Soziales Wesen (Social Creature), which comprises such domains as employment, profession, social position, relationship, and nationality; (2) Physisches Wesen (Physical Creature), which encompasses qualities related to age and gender, as well as physical components and physiological state; (3) Emotionales Wesen (Emotional Creature), which is a term identified with human emotions, routines, and passions; (4) Intelligentes Wesen (Intellectual Creature), which describes mental activity, thinking, and communication. The key concepts such as ARBEIT, GEFÜHLE, KÖRPERTEILE, SOZIALE ROLLE, and RELIGION, among others, come together to form a cognitive matrix that is composed of several layers. The research reveals that the domain MENSCH in the German language brings together notions that are targeted at comprehending an individual as a socially and intellectually evolved creature, capable of engaging in creative activity and abstract thinking. The further investigation of the issue under discussion might touch upon the attempt of ascertaining the inter-conceptual connections that will replicate certain mental dependencies, as well as generate some correlations of the meta-concept MENSCH.