Yudina Tatyana Vladimirovna – Sc.D. in philological sciences, professor, Department of language psychology and foreign language teaching, Faculty of psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Modern German political discourse is in the process of deep transformation. The public speeches of politicians, which are the subject of linguistic analysis in this article, testify to the search for new reference points by the consolidated parties. There is a shift in some traditional concepts (for example, «left», «right») on the verbal level. We can see the «borrowing» of concepts, as well as the increasing competition in the struggle for «signal» words, addressed to the voter of the Center, the basis of German society. The article notes the activisation of discussions about the location of the Center, due to the migration crisis. At present, the weakening of conceptual polarization between the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats as a result of their collective work in the «Big Coalition», stimulates both parties to clarify their political position and announce their program. In this regard the new definitions, such as «conservative coalition», appear. New challenges (such as verbal provocations) open up new debating perspectives and reactivate the reflection of modern political realities. One of the trends of modern discourse is so-called «fear for democracy». There are warnings from different political flanks that democracy is in danger. Traditional understanding of democracy in German political science and German society is based on party democracy: it is held that parties operating within the framework of democratic procedures and mutual competition articulate the citizens’ will, thereby ensuring their participation in the state-political system. However, recently, as shown by data from sociological polls and discourse analysis of German political communications, the distrust towards political parties is growing, and in this regard the so-called «movements» are becoming a new form of social and political activity of the citizens. The new trends of political discourse illustrate these transformation tendencies.
party democracy, political discourse, discourse-analysis, concept polarization.
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