Strategies of euphemizing scatological vocabulary in German media texts
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of the study is to determine the functions and status (conventional or occasional) of scatological euphemisms used to refer to canine excrement in contemporary German media discourse. The article examines conventional and occasional euphemistic nominations recorded in articles published by the German periodical “Die Tageszeitung” in 2019, 2022, and 2024. This makes it possible to trace the dynamics of euphemistic usage depending on such factors as public resonance, legislative initiatives, and the emergence of new control technologies. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, for the first time, based on articles from the German online newspaper “Die Tageszeitung”, conventional and occasional euphemistic nominations in the scatological domain are identified and systematized, their stylistic status and functions in media discourse are determined, and the main mechanisms of their formation – metaphor, metonymy, and irony – are established. The study demonstrates that German journalists euphemize scatological denotata by using both conventional, dictionary-established euphemistic nominations (Haufen) and occasional, authorial forms based on metaphor (braune Bombe), semantic derivation (Hinterlassenschaften), and irony (Täter, Strippenzieher). Alongside veiling nominations, the articles also contain direct designations, which create a contrast and enable the author to draw the reader’s attention to the urgency of the problem.
Source: Philology Theory & Practice
Author: Julia Alexandrovna Raikova
Institution: Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204806364