Das Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen Sprache und Kultur: Forschungsrückblick, Zugänge und Beschreibungstendenzen

Abstract The main focus of this paper is on language and communication as the central meaning generating mechanisms of culture. The paper aims to systematically and heuristically investigate the complex alliance of language, culture and communicational interaction and at the same time to introduce several new fields of research by critically discussing their topics and potentials. In this regard, the dilemma of the question if, how much and which theory is necessary nowadays at all shall be examined first; therefore, the After-theory-program will also be addressed. Followed selectively by an illustrating look into the research history about language and about culture resp. about culture and language (without losing sight of the psychological process of “thinking”) with examples from selected linguistic and closely related disciplines. It is before this background, that aspects of culture-sensitive linguistic approaches will be analytically focused on and new paradigms – the Anglo-American “culture linguistics”, the Russian-post-soviet “linguoculturology” and the German Studies originated specifically multilingualism-oriented “intercultural linguistics” — will be closely scrutinised, primarily from the perspective of German Linguistics.