COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN HATE DISCOURSE: STRATEGIES OF DEROGATIONAND STIGMATISATION (BASED ON RUSSIAN, POLISH, ENGLISH AND GERMAN MATERIAL)

The article examines the functioning of comparative constructions in hate discourse. Based on comments from the social network Instagram, the study analyzes strategies of derogation and stigmatization in Russian, Polish, English, and German. It explores how comparisons are used to produce negative evaluations of public figures. Four key thematic categories are identified and described: attacks on appearance, devaluation of social status, criticism of moral and gender characteristics, and sarcastic analogies. Particular attention is paid to the universality of cognitive models of aggression observed across all studied linguacultures, despite stylistic variations. The findings confirm that comparative constructions serve as a powerful tool of dehumanization and reputational damage in online environments. The results may contribute to further research on the linguistic nature of hate and the development of tools for its automated detection.