vor freude lachen, one herze lachen, vor lachen sterben

Zu Zeichenhaftigkeit und Semantik von lachen im Frühneuhochdeutschen

Authors

  • Andrea Moshövel Akademie der Wissenschaften Göttingen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14464/semiotik.v37i1-2.338

Keywords:

laughter, psychology, Early Modern, High German, Medieval German literature, Middle High German, lachen, facial expression, historical linguistics, lexicology

Abstract

In this article laughter is defined as a double structured bodily sign. On the one hand, laughter can be read as an unintentional indicator of the mood, the attitude and the feeling of the laughing person, while on the other hand it may also be assumed that laughter is deliberately used for a communicative purpose, for instance to cement a friendship, to distance oneself from someone, or to degrade someone. Subsequently, by means of the Early Modern High German expression lachen, it is examined how laughter as a bodily sign is interpreted in Early Modern High German texts, that is, in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age, which possess different concepts of laughter. It is demonstrated that in the discourse on laughter, the question of meanings and sign functions play an important role in assessing, controlling and regulating it.

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Published

2018-07-16