Abstract :
[en] Democracy places specific demands on political communication and language use. Knobloch and Vogel (2015) define democratic language as a form of social interaction or discourse that enables individuals to construct and express (controversial) opinions. Kilian (2018) claims that political communication is considered democratic when it facilitates the formation of political opinions and decision-making in a (balanced) dialogical and public manner. He further argues that there is a link between political ideology and the language used in political discourse.
To establish a collective cognitive convention or norm regarding what constitutes democratic language, we must identify its defining characteristics. Linguistically, such norms can be reconstructed by analyzing the political use of language in discourse (Kilian 2018, Wodak & Forchtner 2018). To support the overarching educational goal of promoting democracy, it is thus essential to develop competencies in language reflection and the analysis of political discourse in educational settings (Neuland 2005).
Drawing on examples from current political discourses on social media in German and English, this contribution explores linguistic characteristics prevalent in political communication. In particular, it examines phenomena such as emotionalized language, hate speech, polarization, and the absence of sound argumentation in contemporary political discourse on social media, which are criticized as forms of populist, violent, or dehumanizing language use (Geyer 2023, Huemer 2022, Humprecht et al. 2024). Consequently, this paper emphasizes the necessity of language reflection in schools and universities, discussing potential pedagogical implications.
