The language of political satire on German television

Politics and language are very closely related. Such relationship between language and politics evokes the study under an independent subfield of linguistics namely political linguistics. Political language has its own conspicuousness which is treated in this work. This work treats politics as a satirical object. Based on this hypothesis the political satirist Oliver Welke strips politics of its seriousness and thus the mask of authority. He goes beyond mere entertainment of the audience and conveys a political message. He breaks with the serious tone of political debate.The subject of this thesis is the research or the analysis of verbal and non-verbal communication in the political cabaret Heute-Show based on the linguistic and non-linguistic behavior of a large group of the political actors and celebrities in the German society including Oliver Welke Christian Ehring Angela Merkel Andrea Nahles and others.