Conversation (conversation)
The conversation is a conversation in compliance with etiquette .
etymology
The foreign word was taken from the French conversation (conversation) into German in the middle of the 16th century . It goes back to the Latin conversatio (contact, intercourse), which is the noun to conversari (to have contact, to associate with someone).
Up until the 16th century the term was also used in this general sense, which encompasses all human interactions. A distinction was the conversatio from sermo (see. Sermon ), the conversation in the narrower, at the same time habitually familiar sense. In the 17th century, conversation took on the meaning of "cultivated conversation", which is still used today.
The Duden notes the current use of the term for “[...] often conventional, superficial and non-committal chatter ; Conversation that is held in company only for the sake of entertainment. "
history
Conversation acquired its special significance as part of social life at the court of the French king during the development of absolutism in the 17th century . The French aristocracy was politically disempowered and received a large part of its income from offices and pensions awarded by the king. The struggle for these rights took place as part of the conversation at the king's court at social events such as banquets , celebrations, masquerades , fireworks , etc., but also at receptions in the salons of the nobility. With their help z. B. intrigues and slander set in motion, which should lead to shifts in the ranking. In inter-sex relationships, the man often conducted the conversation in a gallant manner , which did not produce any real affirmations of love and was evoked or answered by the woman with coquetry . Here, too, political or financial goals were not excluded.
In order to cope with the emotions that inevitably arise during conversation , the manners that arose in the courts in the Middle Ages (see also courtesy ) were further developed and developed into a set of rules for this type of communication. Observance of the rules was of great importance to the participants in the conversation. Errors in the conversation could lead to social decline, special skills in it could lead to social advancement or influence the choice of partner. Hence, books depicting these rules attracted a lot of interest, so that a whole series of such conversational teachings emerged in 17th century France.
By way of imitation , the conversation was soon held in the residences of the nobility in the provinces of France according to the rules of the royal court. The cultural consequences of French hegemony in Europe since the middle of the 17th century also include the introduction of conversation, often in French, at the residences of European kings and princes. In the future, knowledge of conversation would also be advantageous for citizens when they came into contact with the residences and, in particular, wanted to receive assignments. In this environment, an extensive literature of advisors was created, which also includes the well-known work On Dealing with People by Adolph Freiherr Knigge .
The educated bourgeoisie adopted at least some of the rules in order to set themselves apart from the lower classes . It was particularly important for the participants to understand the scope and depth of their education during the conversation. H. above all to present the knowledge they have acquired. The conversation lexicon served to provide this knowledge and thus performed an important social function.
The social criticism, especially in the second half of the 20th century , led to a devaluation and increasing disregard for the rules of conversation. Today it is largely replaced by small talk . On the other hand, methods of conducting discussions for management have been taught on a large scale since then . There many topics are dealt with that were already part of the rules of the conversation.
In recent years, the importance of conversation for generating innovation has been (re-) discovered. Richard K. Lester and Michael J. Piore called the conversation the missing dimension in innovation management . It is a necessary basis, but at the same time an instrument to be able to generate innovations. Roger Aeschbacher accordingly sees conversation as a management method to sensibly select the flood of ideas in innovation projects and to implement the most promising ones for an organization quickly and smoothly (see literature).
literature
- Roger Aeschbacher: Maximum innovation. Through management by conversation. Ruegger Zurich - specialist publisher for economics, politics, social affairs, Zurich et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-7253-0920-7 .
- Manfred Fuhrmann : The European educational canon. Extended new edition. Insel, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-458-17204-1 .
- Karl-Heinz Göttert : Conversation. In: Gert Ueding (Hrsg.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric . Volume 4: Hu-K. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-484-68104-7 , Sp. 1322-1333.
- Richard K. Lester, Michael J. Piore: Innovation - the missing dimension. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-674-01581-9 .
- Wolfgang Pfeifer (Hrsg.): Etymological dictionary of German. 2 volumes. 2nd Edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-05-000626-9 .
- Seraina Plotke: Conversatio / Konversation: A history of words and concepts. In: Rüdiger Schnell (Ed.): Conversational culture in the premodern. Genders in social conversation. Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2008, ISBN 3-412-20132-4 , pp. 31–120.
- Claudia Schmölders , Ed. (1979): The Art of Conversation. Texts on the history of European conversation theory. 2nd Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-423-04446-2 ( dtv 4446). ( online)
- Christoph Strosetzki: Conversation. A chapter of social and literary pragmatics in 17th century France. Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1978, ISBN 3-261-02652-9 ( Studia Romanica et Linguistica 7), (also: Düsseldorf, Univ., Diss., 1977). ( French translation online, PDF (10.7 MB)
- Rosmarie Zeller: Play and conversation in the baroque. Investigations into Harsdörffer's "conversation games". De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1974, ISBN 3-11-004245-2 .
Web links
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ see: Literature: Claudia Schmölders (1979), p. 9 f.
- ↑ Article "Konversation" on duden.de