REALIZING ETHNIC STEREOTYPES THROUGH LANGUAGE MEANS IN THE TEXTS OF GERMAN LITERATURE IN AUSTRIAN GALICIA

Abstract

Studied in the paper are the language instruments of ethnic stereotypes on the basis of German language fiction of Austrian Galicia. Semantic, syntactic and text building means of stereotype formation are singled out. The corresponding lexical units, syntactic constructions and discursive markers are analyzed. The use of these techniques is conditioned by versatile strategies of the authors that are evinced in the avoidance of direct nomination of the state of affairs in order not to disrupt the communication process, abstraction from details as well as generalization upon certain characteristics of the phenomena or objects and sanctioning of their affiliation with, or distance from, a particular ethnic group. The findings of the present research appear to confirm three important functions of ethnic stereotypes: cognitive, which helps to produce the impression about the individual ethnic groups without having to deal with them; communicative, which gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the main features and models of behavior of the representatives of different ethnic groups and prepare for contact with them, and prosthetic, which promotes the preservation of the identity of ethnoses within cultural groups. It has been revealed that ethnic stereotypes perform a manipulative function which causes the recipient to believe the stereotypical statements owing to false generalization, hyperboles, repetitions or special syntactic constructions. Such stereotypes can forge the false image of ethnic groups, hence it pays off to be equipped with mechanisms of stereotypes identification and constraints that could help to shun their dissemination. Keywords: stereotype, ethnic stereotype, cognitive stereotype, language stereotype, literature of Austrian Galicia.