Sprache als Kulturgut: Methodische Konsequenzen und Notwendigkeiten der Forschung
Language as a Cultural Asset: Methodological Consequences and Research Requirements

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the following remarks is to provide an answer to the conference question “Quo vadis, German linguistics?” The point is to reestablish linguistics as a philology, i.e., as a science that proceeds primarily inductively. For this reason, the article does not start from pre-existing and already defined concepts, but from authentic statements, i.e., real texts that were not formulated solely for the purpose of answering the central question. Based on two passages, the question is asked what is meant by the term “culture” and how this is expressed in these two source texts. The first text is the drama “Schlageter” by the Nazi author Hanns Johst, which was published in 1933; the second text is a passage from a political speech by the AfD politician Alexander Gauland. The first text understands culture as so-called high culture, which is contrasted with the concept of struggle, presented as a fundamental German attitude. Gauland uses several meanings of the term culture in order to polemicize against a politician of Turkish origin in different ways. It becomes clear from the outset that linguistics must focus primarily on the content of linguistic signs, but that always requires context and co-situation. If arguments are based solely on the formal aspect of language, misjudgments are inevitable; this is illustrated by a court decision on an Austrian politician. Finally, six methodological postulates are formulated that result from the consideration of linguistics as a cultural science.

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