Abstract

The ambivalent role of language in politics is also a factor in the battle between democracy and populism. Political and social scientists register crises of democratic structures in many countries and see the causes in dynamically changing socio-economic, socio-cultural, systemic and not least linguistic-communicative conditions. Typical communicative characteristics of populism can be analysed by looking at the rhetorical means of persuasion: logos (rational arguments), ethos (appealing to sympathy) and pathos (emotional arousal). Two German parliamentary speeches (Merz, Weidel) show similar tendencies in the use of logos and ethos, but also clearly different characteristics in the use of pathos elements. One major difference concerns the question of whether or not a populist ideology is being pursued.