German speech manipulation in texts about Russia

Abstract

This article discusses the features of speech manipulation on the Russian theme in modern German political texts. The need to write such a work is due to a number of factors.

First, the authors note that this topic, despite its relevance in the context of increasing information warfare, especially over the past five years, is not sufficiently described. The problem of speech violence is practically not considered in the theoretical part of the relevant dissertations, scientific articles and textbooks. In the exercises for students on abstracting, listening and socio-political translation there are no tasks related to the detection and analysis of speech manipulation means, speech demagogy or speech aggression in foreign media.

Secondly, in the presence of a large amount of literature, one way or another devoted to the problem of media manipulation, it is possible to find relatively little linguistic research of foreign texts.

And, thirdly, it should be noted that there are theoretical gaps in this area of research, in particular, the lack of generally accepted points of view on the classification, the terminological name of speech strategies, tactics and techniques used for the purpose of covert introduction into the consciousness of the addressee of the necessary information to the manipulator, which complicates the analysis of speech facts of manipulative influence.

With regard to the German political language, the authors of this article pay attention to the manipulative linguistic techniques of the German media in publications on Russian (and in fact - anti-Russian) topics, on the extralinguistic background, especially related to the reunification of the Crimea with Russia and the conflict in the Donbass. German media, ranging from the relatively respectable newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung“ to the Boulevard “Bild” write and talk about Russia either in a bad light or nothing at all.

Thus, a pejorative function directed at a negative characterization of our state without any serious argument comes to the fore. Since different types of language manipulation require contexts of a greater length for their demonstration, the authors confine their material to the adduced one.