Abstract
<jats:p>This book presents a comprehensive study of the subsystem of metaphor-zoosemisms which have not previously been studied on their own. The study is based on explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, explanatory dictionaries of the Chinese language, a bilingual Russian-Chinese dictionary, and materials from the National Corpus of the Russian Language. The book systematically describes the functional, semantic, grammatical, stylistic and pragmatic features of zoosemisms in relation to their zoonyms, and identifies regular differences, when comparing zoonyms to zoosemisms in different perspectives. Detailed descriptions are provided of how zoosemisms are presented in dictionaries in terms of the relationship between biological sex and grammatical gender. The discrepancies among dictionaries are commented upon from the perspective of modern usage. The distinctiveness of Russian zoosemisms is presented in contrast with Chinese zoosemisms motivated by correlative zoonyms. The zoonymic base of metaphorical naming common to the Russian and Chinese languages is described and the sphere of similarities and differences in the functions of Russian and Chinese zoosemisms is established. The problems of bilingual lexicography, related to the insufficient information available in Russian explanatory dictionaries for a foreign-language user, and the need for its unification, specification or explanation are identified. This book is intended for an interested dictionary user: lexicologist, lexicographer, translator, Russian language learners and teachers.</jats:p>