Sind wir Opfer der Sprache?

Abstract

The article is based on a lecture given 3 January 2021 at SWR in Baden-Baden. The presentation style was basically retained for this publication, but it was revised and updated. On the occasion of current discus- sions in Germany, the overview lecture dealt with the topic of framing, i.e. the question of whether and how much people‘s thinking and possibly actions are linguistically influenced. The lecture was designed to be cross-disciplinary and aimed at weighing up old and new research results. The topic is first de- scribed in its historical genesis and then discussed on the basis of empirically collected psychological, anthropological and social science data, but also on the basis of hermeneutically analyzed findings from literature. Historically, the question is based on the assumption that a language shapes or even determines the world experience of its speakers through its lexis and grammatical specificities. In this context, it was discussed whether different expressions of the same content can influence the addressees and thus manipulate them. It is shown that this can indeed be the case: Language can be very powerful in this regard. However, it also becomes clear that this is not valid indefinitely, since, conversely, material reality also has an impact on what we can and must express in and with our language(s). Totalitarian control through language can only happen for a short time, but is impossible in the long run.

Keywords

• framing
• cognitive linguistics