Representation of the Concept AGGRESSOR'S DEFEAT in Cartoons of the Great Patriotic War

The article studies how cartoonists link the addressee of the cartoon (an average citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) to the concept AGGRESSOR'S DEFEAT in 1941-45, making use of associative relations between concepts in the Russian language world picture and possibilities of different visualization methods. In political cartoons, codes of different semiotic systems cooperate, each of them has its own features. This fact implies that, during the study of political cartoons, different methods are employed: definitional, semantic, contextual, and elements of cognitive analysis. The study demonstrates that cartoonists link the addressee of a message to complex political questions with the help of everyday occurrences and notions from the addressee's nearest area, for example: ‘desire to regale oneself with buns' ‘have an idea to grab somebody else's lands'; ‘lack of heat from the fireplace in the room' ‘deprivation of fuel resources'; ‘be beaten black and blue' ‘suffer a defeat'. The link to political questions is established with the help of both verbal and iconic means. Visual presentation of abstract notions is based on different visualization methods (1) metaphor, (2) association by contiguity, (3) comparison, (4) usage of the bridge meaning of the language unit, (5) usage of interrelation between meanings of a polysemous word. The analysis of cartoons created in 1941-45 proves that the notion ‘suffer a defeat' is represented by elements which group in the associative field of the concepts PATRIOTIC WAR OF 1812 (e.g. retreat of Napoleon's army, cold weather) and FIST FIGHT (e.g. bruise, give smb a bloody nose). The notion ‘loss of life' is represented by elements which group in the associative field of the concept DEATH: skeleton, cross, coffin, grave. The choice of a concept which refers to an element in the associative field of the concept AGGRESSOR'S DEFEAT can be caused by its capability to develop a certain connotation. For example, the German fascist's command staff perception of warfare is evaluated with the help of notions which group in the associative field of the concept CARD GAME. Taking into consideration the addressee's background knowledge about the history of their country, Russian folk observations fixed in proverbs and popular sayings, and the addressee's knowledge of Russian phraseological units which base on knowledge of life, cartoonists save on verbal means, ensure laconism of the message in the form of a political cartoon. The roundabout form of the message catches the eye of the addressee and gives an attractive form to political information. Verbal and visual supports related to the situation under discussion give contemporaries informed about the state of things an opportunity to decode and understand the message in the form of a political cartoon.

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