Our research is part of a broader project focusing on manipulative representations in times of crisis and the analysis of linguistic strategies used to spread alternative truths in the public sphere. Culture and poetic language are among the less explored topics in political and opinion-forming rhetoric disseminated via the internet and social media. Based on a collected language corpus from online magazines and social networks of some populist parties and objectively identified alternative media in the German-speaking countries (e.g. Holand-Letz 2020, Müller et. al. 2023), we will attempt a linguistic and cultural analysis of the key images, symbols, and overall poetic language used to convey alternative or manipulative narratives. We process the analyzed corpus using corpus analysis methods and techniques and the Sketch Engine tool (identification of keywords and collocations), which we combine with a critical discourse analysis approach (e.g., Fairclough / Wodak). The aim is to highlight the typical elements of the language and rhetoric in question and thus help to better understand its functioning and ability to persuasively influence recipients. Such disclosure of typical linguistic and argumentative structures and their overlap with the aesthetic level can contribute to sensitizing the perception of given phenomena and to the better development of critical thinking in civil society.

Authors:
Jan Demcisak, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Jan Demcisak is currently university an assistant professor at Department of German studies at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia.

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