Manipulieren mit der Sprache durch Bewerten: exemplarische Analysen (anhand von Pressebelegen)

Abstract

Language manipulation and evaluation: Case study based on daily press

The paper discusses the language as the way of manipulation and evaluation. It begins with the explanation of the term ‘language manipulation’ in relation to my reflections on the evaluative speech. I imply that the linguistic ways of manipulation could be divided into a a positive way to convince or to influence somebody for his/her advantage and b a negative way to convince or to influence somebody for self-interest that is to disguise one’s true interests. The evaluative function is neither a distinctive nor a defining feature of one’s manipulative statements and vice versa. These both functions of the language in use that is the evaluative and the manipulative are connected to discourses where the evaluative and manipulative structures are used e.g. political discourses, advertising text and where the intention of the speaker to evaluate and to manipulate can be indicated. The interpretation of these both functions of the language in use by the receiver is extremely difficult and may always remain an issue for further discussion. That is why some randomly chosen grammar structures for example “meine X ist deine X” [my X is your X], “X mit X” [X with X], “X-Werte für Y” [X-value term for Y] etc. presented in this paper cannot be cosidered a system or to be of methodical, systematic nature. It is rather an interpretative or explanatory description of the chosen specific and authentic corpus-driven examples from the domain of politics and advertising.