Versprachlichung der Rolle jüngerer Bevölkerungsschichten in Pandemiediskursen: syntaktische Funktionen, semantische Rollen und deontische Aspekte

This study, which is part of the larger project COVIDisc - A focus on vector populations, sets out to analyse the media discourse in German and Italian-speaking Switzerland on the role of young people in the Covid-19 pandemic. After identifying the main lexical means used to refer to young people, the focus shifts to the syntactic functions and semantic roles in which they occur, as well as the deontic aspects of the discourse. Furthermore, a chronological analysis makes it possible to trace the construction of a common ground regarding the role of young people in the pandemic context. More specifically, it helps to identify deontic scenarios concerning the behaviours to be adopted or avoided, the actual compliance with the provisions issued by the authorities and the responsibility for raising awareness among young people. This data, reported and illustrated with a series of examples, will serve as a basis for future in-depth quantitative studies, which are essential for refining the interpretation of the trends that have emerged.