Voice manipulation

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Language manipulation is the conscious change of language by certain interest groups who force (promote, disseminate) or enforce their ways of thinking or ideology . Language manipulation takes place through the use of emotional, judgmental or interpretive language components and is both "manipulation of language and manipulation through language."

Emergence

Language manipulation is consciously carried out by multipliers such as parties, politicians, journalists, interest groups and advertisers - groups that have a privileged position in terms of their reach (language distribution). For example, a party or interest group changes language “by striving for a political language regulation that serves their interests. Certain words [...] have to become general linguistic assets, then they themselves acquire a politically and ideologically organizing function. ”In the long term, however, the unconscious and uncritical adoption and use of language manipulatory elements by individual language participants can also have a language-changing effect.

Strategies, tactics and techniques on grammatical language levels

Language manipulation can take place at the word and sentence level as well as in a semantic and situational context . At all these levels, among other things, (linguistic) psychological and rhetorical operating principles come into play.

At the word level , language manipulation shows up among other things

  1. in the use of words with weak denotative (descriptive, informative, non-judgmental) "meaning core" and a strongly developed connotative ( emotional , judgmental) "shell",
  2. in the use of established words with a more or less arbitrarily changed or newly created meaning,
  3. in the use of keywords , euphemisms , dysphemisms and pejorations ,
  4. in the creation of new words ( neologisms ),
  5. in the use of ambiguous expressions and
  6. in the use of the inclusive and absorbing pluralis auctoris (e.g. "we").

At the sentence level , language manipulation is primarily characterized by its use

  1. of "phrases" ( i.e. platitudes , empty phrases and slogans ),
  2. of self-appreciation and devaluation of "opponents" (in-group and outgroup polarization: "good" - "bad"),
  3. of strategies to promote perception and judgment in the desired sense,
  4. of quotations from (supposed) "authorities" (authority topos),
  5. of stereotypes (in a social science context) and
  6. of empty formulas ( Topitsch : "dummy statements with extremely general meaning"). See also: Topos (humanities) , rhetoric and rhetorical figure .

The division into syntactic levels made here is based on a conceptual distinction between manipulation through language and manipulation through speech ( linguistic usage ): The words are elements of the language system used in a community ; the sentences are elements of the respective speech. Only in the first case is the language manipulated and changed to that extent, while the latter case falls under the usual use of the language system.

In the semantic and situational context of an utterance, both selection and combination of information can be used in a language manipulative manner.

The use of rhetorical argumentation techniques plays a role here. See also: rhetoric , persuasive communication and argument or topos (humanities) .

aims

Language manipulation is carried out with the aim of producing and changing widespread attitudes and opinions up to and including sanctioning (language) behavior that deviates from a given line .

consequences

Language manipulation and regulation are factors that cause, maintain and enlarge the differences between individual and published language usage .

The consequences of language manipulation are complex and only take effect in the context of its use. In advertising ( advertising language ), the mechanisms of language manipulation serve to control the interest in buying. This is considered to be legitimate influencing the market. It serves the advertisers to secure their economic existence. Serious consequences can arise in the area of ​​advertising for children and young people, as this group of addressees is still unreservedly about language manipulative techniques.

Language manipulation as persuasive communication or strategic communication within political rhetoric , on the other hand, can have a critical influence on the political opinion of citizens. If citizens are not aware of language strategies, their political opinion can easily be influenced by language persuasion strategies.

Strategic communication takes place primarily in times of war and crisis and serves to legitimize war-related political actions in public. An extremely manipulative variant of language manipulation in this context is propaganda ( propaganda language ).

Further information

Cross references

Web links

literature

  • Walther Dieckmann: Conviction or persuasion? 1964
  • Walther Dieckmann: Language in Politics . 1969
  • Andrea Hausberg: Analysis of political language using current examples. Rhetorical-argumentative strategies in speeches on the Iraq war . VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 3-8364-3368-0 .
  • Hans-Dieter Fischer: Manipulation - Persuasion - Language. A working bibliography . 1995.
  • Nina Janich: Advertising language. A work book . Narr, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-8233-4974-0 .
  • Gustave Flaubert : The Dictionary of Common Phrases . Edited by Eichborn, Berlin 2005. ISBN 3-8218-0741-5 .
  • Klaus Bayer: Argument and Argumentation. Logical foundations of argumentation analysis . Volume 1, West German publishing house, Opladen / Wiesbaden.
  • Franz G. Sieveke: Aristotle. Rhetoric . 3rd edition, Wilhelm Fink, Munich.
  • G. Klaus: The power of the word . 1968
  • W. Klute: Text and tendency. Information for a defensive reading .
  • Theodor Lewandowski: Linguistic Dictionary . Heidelberg, 1980. UTB 300
  • Ernst Topitsch : About empty formulas. On the pragmatics of language use in philosophy and political theory . In: Ernst Topitsch (ed.): Problems of the philosophy of science . 1960
  • Gerhart Wolff: Language manipulation . Dortmund 1978

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor Lewandowski: Linguistic Dictionary . Heidelberg, 1980, p. 854.
  2. ↑ G. Klaus: The power of the word. 1968.
  3. ^ Christian Lehmann, Manipulation through language
  4. ^ Franz G. Sieveke: Aristoteles. Rhetoric . 3rd edition, Wilhelm Fink, Munich
  5. ^ Nina Janich: Advertising language. A work book . Narr, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-8233-4974-0 .
  6. ↑ Andrea Hausberg: Analysis of political language using current examples. Rhetorical-argumentative strategies in speeches on the Iraq war . VDM Verlag Dr. Müller , Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 3-8364-3368-0 .