Introduction: Language and Communication Related to COVID-19

Abstract

The occurrence of COVID-19 has a strong impact on individuals’ as well as public life. This Special Issue brings together research on language and communication addressing the challenges resulting from the Corona virus situation. Seven original papers followed by a discussion, address research on language and communication related to COVID-19 using different theoretical backgrounds, methodological approaches, as well as different foci on individual, interpersonal, and intergroup perspectives. The foci addressed in the contributions of the Special Issue stretch from discrimination and intergroup stigmatization to the laypeople's perception and evaluation of science and health communication messages.

Mapping Linguistic Shifts During Psychological Coping With the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Language is closely linked to many central processes undergirding psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic ( Jucks & Hendriks, 2021 ). For example, recent work demonstrates that pronoun use can affect communal coping with COVID-19 ( Tian et al, 2021 ) and that linguistic cues, coupled with prior beliefs, shape attributions about others ( Schnepf et al, 2021 ).…”

COVID-19-Related FAQs as a Form of Online Institutional Communication: An Exploratory Study

“…In this paper, the focus is on one particular form of online institutional communication, i.e. FAQs on governmental websites, and for this reason all other forms of communication on COVID-19, which have already been discussed elsewhere (Garzone 2021;Janssen, Hendriks, and Jucks 2021;Jucks and Hendriks 2021;Tagliacozzo, Albrecht, and Ganapati 2021;Demata, Knoblock, and Zummo 2022), will not be addressed. Before delving into the micro-analysis, however, a consideration is in order.…”