Discourse Analysis Of German News About Refugees: The Interaction Of Language Means

Type of rationality and forms of its implementation in reality

In his work “Analysis of News as Discourse” T. van Dijk states that discourse semantics is not determined only by lexical meaning of words and their position. To understand the logic of discourse history one needs “cognitive and social analysis of the knowledge of native speakers within a specific culture” (Dijk, 2000, p. 128). Therefore, the scholar speaks about the dependence of discourse interpretation on the receptor, a representative of sociocultural environment, i.e. the main principle is that an individual interprets a discourse.

However, in our article, we use a different approach. We analyzed the social background of discourse history and following the obtained results we will attempt to describe a news text as a discourse. Thus, we will consider a text from the point of view of social background which influences, on the one hand, the reader’s interpretation and, on the other hand, establishing a receptor’s consistent worldview.

By a certain type of rationality are meant sociopolitical attitudes (normative-legal documents, ideological principles and constitutional legal values determining the sociopolitical direction), which are widespread in the society and state.

We will consider some features of rationality in Germany and then we will proceed with legal and regulatory mechanisms of maintaining it.

Historically, FRG adherence to European integration originates from Konrad Adenauer (Geymbukh, 2016; Kardas & Zuranovich, 2011). The activities of the federal chancellor were initially aimed at complex solution of two relevant objectives: reunification of Germany and reunification of Europe. European integration movement in post-war Germany meant establishing a new type of domestic political relations between society and state. It would have been impossible to solve the set tasks without new democratic society in Germany that would be recognized by European countries. However, there was also an opposite direction which consisted in establishing an ideological attitude in German society toward European integration. Geymbukh (2016) stresses that “it was only Germans’ solidarity with European community that was considered as an opportunity for creating a free democratic state and earn confidence in Germany” (p. 18). Adenauer wrote:

We had only one way -to save our political freedom, our security, our lifestyle established in the course of several centuries on the basis of Christian humanistic worldview, the way of firm unification with nations and peoples which share the same views on the issues of state, personality, freedom and property as us. (Geymbukh, 2016, p. 18)

Therefore, in the cited words of federal chancellor, the key directions of German domestic and foreign policy in the second half of the 20^thcenturyare outlined: preservation of Germany’s sovereignty, German identity and culture on the basis of Christian humanistic worldview and a focus on European integration. Adenauer’s words were reflected in an objective in the preamble that was adopted in Constitution of Federal Republic of Germany in 1948: “… to serve the purpose of maintaining international peace as an equal member in reunited Germany…” (Geymbukh, 2016, p. 20) and were developed in other articles of Constitution. Thus, we can see that the idea of European integration based on Christian humanistic worldview has a long history in the politics of Federal Republic of Germany and was embodied in Constitution and other statutory and regulatory documents. The idea of integration, human rights and freedoms and other universal human values represent the legal basis of foreign and domestic policy of Federal Republic of Germany, are fixed in basic statutory and regulatory documents and are maintained at the execution level (are implemented in authority discourse) and function in civic society.

Statutory and regulatory mechanisms of maintaining the type of rationality

Besides Constitution, there are other statutory and regulatory documents which regulate and encourage the establishment and development of civic society. One of the key documents is the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted on December 7, 2000 (Geymbukh, 2017; Kashkin, 2003). In our opinion, the ideological imperative fixed in the Charter creates possibilities for developing and strengthening human rights and establishes worldview attitudes.

Kashkin (2003) stresses that:

The Charter reflects an interesting and extremely humane idea which enhances further advancement of citizens' legal status. It consists in the intention to recognize the practically achieved level of implementation of human rights and freedoms as practically equal to the level secured in legislation. (p. 1124)

Тhus, we can observe, firstly, the inverse relationship between the social reality and authority discourse and, secondly, the tendency of prevailing the citizens’ real rights and freedoms over the “legally secured” ones.

Further, the scholar makes an observation which is relevant for us: “In international law, the most acceptable method is coordination, concord, whereas in constitutional law - the imperative method, the method of submission prevails. It is also justified that, in the law of the European Union, the participants of this union first come to an agreement and coordinate their positions and then, in their activities, conform to the reached arrangements, i.e. the method of “coordinated subordination” is developed and adjusted”. (Kashkin, 2003). Thus, we can observe hierarchy of legal relationships within the European Union which can be described by the formula “coordinated subordination”.

Considering the Charter, we should mention one more tendency: “accelerated creation of civic societies in the countries-participants of the European Union and developing civic society within the whole European integration group” (Kashkin, 2003, p. 1124). The mechanism of implementing this tendency consists in a gradual switch to the situation when states will delegate a part of their authority to the supranational level of civic society. Therefore, the intentions captured in legislation ought to be implemented in the civil discourse and in the manifestations of civil life.

Moreover, Kashkin (2003) emphasizes a significant emerging tendency which has increased since the second half of the 20^th century: The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights strengthened and broadened the possibilities of legal remedy for citizens and other people on the territory of the EU” .Within the framework of our research, it is a relevant observation which shows exercising human rights and freedoms on the territory of the EU.

Therefore, the above mentioned separate statutes and regulations, being part of the normative legal system, create and regulate the type of rationality in European sociocultural tradition and namely, in Germany. The conducted brief social analysis showed that the documents contain an articulated form of mentality: Christian humanistic worldview, preservation of national identity, participation in integration processes, enforcement of citizens’ real rights and freedoms, coordinated international subordination, development of civil society, global humanistic regionalism on the basis of supranational civic societies.

Lexical Analysis

The lexicalsemanticaspectplaysasignificantrole in creation and functioning of news texts. The perception of news and the effect it produces depends on it. Implementation of the lexical semantic aspect depends to a large extent on the rhetorical plane; the choice of the word which describes the event most accurately, use of comparisons, metaphors, metonymies and other figurative language means, and also digital data to present factual information. One of the purposes of this article is analysis of the lexical semantic aspect of news texts.

Grammatical analysis

T. van Dijk mentions that, there are specific grammatical structures in specific kinds of discourse, for instance, in news texts that are considered the most typical and preferable. In this article, we will consider functioning of the passive voice in sentences, the conjunctive and the role of the agent.

Microsociological analysis

Discourse analysis considers not only the syntax of a separate sentence in a text, but great attention is also paid to describing the sequence of sentences in a text. Thus, the compositional structure of a text performs a denotative function.

Grammatical analysis

In this paragraph we will consider the grammatical features of all news texts studied. On the grammar level we note the use of passive voice, conjunctive, the role of Agents, extended attributes.

In texts there is a change of word order in some sentences. For example, Die 49 Flüchtlinge an Bord der beiden deutschen Hilfsschiffe vor der Küste von Malta dürfen nach Angaben der dortigen Regierungan Land gehen. (The 49 refugees on board the two German support ships off the coast of Malta, according to the government there, may land). The word order in the sentence points out „the distribution of semantic roles of the situation’s participants” (Dijk, 2000). A neutral word order implies putting the agent on the first place, for example, Die maltesische Regierung ließ die 49 Flüchtlinge an Bord der beiden deutschen Hilfsschiffe vor der Küste von Malta an Land gehen. (The Maltese government left the 49 refugees on board the two German Support vessels ashore off the coast of Malta), or Nach Angaben der maltesischen Regierung dürfen die 49 Flüchtlinge an Bord der beiden deutschen Hilfsschiffe vor der Küste von Malta an Land gehen (According to the Maltese Government, the 49 refugees are allowed on board of the two German auxiliary ships to land off the coast of Malta). Thus, an object takes the first place (in our case the object is 49 refugees on two German ships of the humanitarian mission). Rescued migrants become the headline of the news.The following example shows the priority of the solution: "Es wurde eine Ad-hoc-Vereinbarung erzielt", sagte Maltas Regierungschef Joseph Muscat am Mittwoch vor Journalisten ("An ad hoc agreement was reached", said Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to journalists on Wednesday) (n-tv.de). On the first place, i.e. the place of a higher meaning weight, there is a complement (Ad-hoc-Vereinbarung), related to the fate of rescued migrants

Other examples, demonstrating the role of agents: Die Geretteten würden anschließend auf acht EU-Mitgliedsstaaten verteilt, erklärte der maltesische Premierminister Joseph Muscat am Mittwoch bei einer Pressekonferenz (The rescued would then be distributed among eight EU member states, said Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a press conference on Wednesday) (t-online.de, 2019). The sentence starts with a direct speechfrom a Maltese official. Substantive participle the first place. Thus, in a sentence with passive voice, an object becomes a subject with a higher meaning weight.

In the sentence «Eine Woche spatter nahm das Rettungsschiff "Professor Albrecht Penck" der deutschen Organisation Sea-Eye 17 Migranten auf» (One week later, the rescue ship "Professor Albrecht Penck" of the German organization Sea-Eye 17 migrants on)the peculiarity of semantic roles distribution is that the adverbial modifier of time is on the first place. The sentence has an inverse word order indicating the importance of the time factor in ongoing history.In news texts there are speech structures typical of written– extended attributes, for example, für 249 bereits in Malta befindliche gerettete Migranten, die zur Aufnahme der Flüchtlinge bereiten EU-Mitgliedstaaten (for 249 rescued migrants already in Malta, EU Member States ready to take in refugees)(n-tv.de), die seit Tagen auf dem Mittelmeer blockierten Rettungsschiffe (the rescue vessels blocked for days in the Mediterranean) (t-online.de).In a number of sentences in the text, PerfectConjunctive is used for direct speech: sei … erzieltworden. Er sei froh, dass die Migranten von den Schiffen nun an Land könnten,…. Er dankte der maltesischen Regierung, dass sie den Schiffen das Anlegen erlaubte. Die … EU-Mitgliedstaaten hätten … "active Solidarität" gezeigt (… have been achieved. He was glad that the migrants from the ships could now land … He thanked the Maltese government that it allowed the ships to dock. … EU member states would have demonstrated active solidarity). Conjunctive is used not only to report official information, but to describe the situation on the ships of the humanitarian mission. For example, Die Menschen seien traumatisiert. Dazu kämen Seekrankheit und Unsicherheit (People are traumatized, including seasickness and insecurity) (spiegel.de).

Modal verb können (can) is used to increase emotional background. Modality expresses a possible scenario: «Alle sitzen eng bei einander und da können sich Krankheiten sehr schnell verbreiten» («Everyone sits close together and diseases can spread very quickly».).

Grammatical analysis revealed the use of grammatical means in news texts to highlight important information.

Compositional level analysis

The compositional text structure of the news from n-tv.deis as follows: first of all, there is a reliance on political scenarios (archetypic motive «return home»). The text follows a retrospective approach: German humanitarian mission ships were allowed to enter the Maltese port (solution; «return home») ← 49 migrants on two ships wandered by the sea awaiting permission to berth in a European port (previous situation) ←legal, regulatory and sociocultural background of the situation (historically established solidarity; form of the content of civil law consciousness: coordinated intergovernmental subordination).

The structure of the news text from spiegel.de consists of two compositional parts. Part one retrospectively informs that 49 refugees are allowed to set foot on shore (Ad-hoc-Agreement policy decision taken, «return home») ← mentioned briefly previous events (the interest of German non-profit organizations in saving people, and globally, in solving the problem of migrants. Part two describes the disastrous situation on the ships of the humanitarian mission: difficult weather conditions, psychological distress due to injuries and situations of uncertainty (shared compassion, dramatization of events).

The compositional structure of the text news from zdf.de can also be represented in two parts. The first partFlüchtlingsschiffe dürfen in Malta anlegen ( - refugee ships are allowed to dock in Malta)shows previous events before the resolution of the situation (who? did what? when? historicalcredibility of events). The second part(Eight countries take in migrants -) describes the dramatic situation on the ships (solidarity, compassion, dramatization of events) and provides the context for the joint policy decision (Malta’s interest to expel some of the migrants, readiness of Germany and other countries to receive part of the migrants, coordinated intergovernmental subordination).

The compositional structure of the news text from t-online.de also consists of two parts. The first part informs of the policy decision taken (Ad-hoc-Vereinbarung policy decision taken, «return home») ←previous events are briefly mentioned (the interest of German non-profit organizations in saving people and, globally, and, globally, in solving the problem of migrants). Part 2 summarizes the technical facts (historical credibility of the event, radar data) and informs about the volunteer organization Sea-Watch (development of civil society).

The compositional level analysis showed that news texts have a common structure that can vary depending on the supertask (sense intention) of a given text. Table 01 summarizes the use of language means in news texts.

The news texts from spiegel.de and zdf.de editions are more emotional at the expense of dramatizing events. Perhaps in enhancing the emotional content of the text by describing the plight of refugees on ships is an attempt to influence public opinion to correct the attitude of public/collective consciousness towards the problem of uncontrolled migration. If so, it should be noted that public opinion is influenced by means of the dominant type of rationality in society.

Lexical-grammatical aspect

The choice of lexical-semantic and grammatical means in the creation of news texts is defined by the supertask of the author and the editor. Editorial task is not arbitrary or personal. It stems from the socio-political attitudes of society and the State. Thus, the language means are determined by the type of rationality in Germany.Rhetorical figures help to create more effective texts. It is established that the use in the texts (including in (super)titles) of words carrying a key weight of meaning produces at the level of macrostructure a sense invariant. Keywords are essential to the functioning of such texts to define a cross-cutting theme.

One of typical characteristics of this type of texts is the use of official jargon, bureaucratic cliches. rhetorical figures (metonyms, comparisons, metaphors).

News texts use grammar means to highlight important information.

On the compositional level, it is established that the news texts have a common structure that can vary depending on the semantic message of a particular text.

Sociocultural aspect

Research data suggest that the legal and regulatory framework for maintaining socio-political attitudes determines the news delivery modus. Use of the European cultural code by recreating the archetypic motive of «returning home» is the general theme of news about migrants, who travel dangerously across the Mediterranean Sea to seek asylum in European countries. In updating this image, linked to certain cultural stereotypes in European conscience, it is possible to see an attempt to influence social attitude to the problem of refugees, including in Germany, on the one hand, and at the same time the humanistic ideological position of European and German politicians is expressed on the other hand. The general theme of wandering when «returning home» provides connectivity of all the texts about refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and found a temporary shelter there. Besides, another significant factor in cultivating a tolerant attitude towards refugees is the German idea of European integration. It is an idea that found a form of its expression, in a humanistic attitude towards migrants, as well as in attempts to solve the refugee problem through the language representation in news texts.