Which Features of Language Allow Fiction to Influence People and Their View on Reality?

Remigius Bunia

By integrating findings from cognitive linguistics, psychology and neurology into literary studies the research presented in this video examines the different uses and effects of language in literature. To get a grasp on the qualities of language that make the influence of fiction possible REMIGIUS BUNIA distinguishes two modes of language: one mode for communication about specific objects with specific attributes, and another mode of communication that is about triggering experiences.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10138

Researcher

Remigius Bunia is Junior Professor of Comparative Literature at Free University, Berlin, where he also acted as Managing Director of the Peter-Szondi-Institute for Comparative Literature. Bunia is the founder of the Research Network Fictionality. In his research, Bunia’s main focus is on the interplay between language and fiction, and how language can invoke certain images that make fiction resonate within the reader.

Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)

"Freie Universität Berlin is a leading research institution. It is one of the German universities successful in all three funding lines in the federal and state Excellence Initiative, thereby receiving additional funding for its institutional future development strategy. Freie Universität can thus take its place as an international network university in the global competition among universities. Development and assessment of research projects takes place within various focus areas, research networks, and platforms for interdisciplinary collaborative research. The university’s performance in the Excellence Initiative provided funding for several new graduate schools and transdisciplinary research clusters. In particular, the graduate schools play a key role in the development of internationally competitive research centers of excellence. Freie Universität Berlin is a full university with 15 departments and central institutes offering over 150 degree programs across a wide range of subjects." ( Source )

Original Publication

Truth in Fiction

Remigius Bunia

Published in 2015

Poetische Sprache und Ästhetogenie: Zum semantischen Gehalt von Äusserungen jenseits ihres 'propositionalen Inhalts'

Remigius Bunia

Published in 2013