The linguistic analysis shows the thrust of the new coalition.
(Photo: imago images / Bildgehege)
Berlin The new coalition seems certain of its cause – at least on paper. Because in their declaration of intent to form a new government, the SPD, Greens and FDP mainly use the phrase “we will” when they talk about their future projects. The predecessor model of the CDU and SPD, on the other hand, had mostly spoken of “we want” at a similar point.
The promise to do something instead of the promise to intend something – this sums up what the traffic light suggests in language, in contrast to the grand coalition that was soon to come.
In any case, this is the result of a linguistic evaluation of the coalition agreement that a team of linguists at the University of Dresden carried out for the Handelsblatt. “If you compare the current contract with the one from 2018, you will notice a number of new buzzwords,” observes Simon Meier-Vieracker, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Dresden.
Many of these new formulations bear the signature of the Greens, such as “coal exit” and “renewable energies”. The word “climate” occurs twice as often as in 2018.
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Since the German language allows new constructions, it is used in a wide variety of constellations, for example in “climate resilience” (mentioned three times) or “climate adaptation strategy” (mentioned twice).
Departure through language
The evaluation of the adjectives shows that the language is also intended to express a new political style. For example, there are a few words at the traffic light that were hardly used in 2018: for example “foresight”, “flexible”, “constructive” and “agile”.
For example, while the word “foresight” is used six times in the current contract, in 2018 it did not even appear. “This is casually intended to express a new political style aimed at progress,” analyzes Meier-Vieracker.
The verbs allow a similar conclusion. The current contract is characterized by action words such as “concentrate”, “dynamize”, “accelerate” and “simplify”, according to the result of the University of Dresden. In order to describe its own approach, the coalition chose terms that fit very well with the motto “Dare to make more progress”, which the upcoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz had proclaimed for the coalition.
It is also noticeable that the traffic light has repackaged some of the existing concepts in terms of language. This includes, for example, basic child benefits or citizen benefits. “It seems important to the parties to support the novelty of the measures with a novelty of the names – or to persuade them,” says linguist Meier-Vieracker.
Freedom matters less
A rebranding also seems to have taken place on the topic of cannabis. While legalization in the parliamentary debate was justified mainly with economic arguments such as tax revenue and the relief of the investigative authorities, the coalition agreement speaks of advantages in youth and consumer protection as the primary motivation.
Compared to the election manifestos, however, freedom in the coalition agreement seems to have lost its importance – at least as far as language priorities are concerned. “The word ‘free’ has slipped from first to fortieth place”, analyzes Leander Baumgertel, who was involved in the evaluation. In contrast to the election platform, there are more adjectives related to governmental areas such as “national” or “legal”.
The “mobility turnaround” called for by the Greens has also lost. The term does not appear in the coalition paper, nor is the “personal responsibility” propagated by the FDP.
More: “Checks are additional bureaucracy” – traffic light plans for legislation cause criticism.