Homo i animal w komunikacji międzyludzkiej – metafory fauniczne w ujęciu konfrontatywnym

Abstract

The paper discusses the conventional faunal one-word metaphors describing people in Polish and Italian. Numerous animal names have identical or similar metaphorical meanings due to the common Christian background and sharing certain observations of particular species reflected in the language. The differences in faunal metaphors result from the specific character of either culture, with its beliefs, customs and traditions unique to a given ethnic community and particularity of perceiving the reality by either of the nations. In both languages analyzed there are more metaphors of negative meanings than those of positive ones, which reflects the belief that the animal is inferior to men.