Vermessung und Vermittlung der Krise in den frühen Lageberichten zur Corona-Pandemie: ein deutsch-französischer Vergleich

With the arrival of the coronavirus in Europe in early 2020, situation reports by the state health institutions – the Robert Koch-Institut and the Direction générale de la santé – begin in Germany and France at relatively the same time. These oral presentations by experts serve both to describe the current spread of the virus and to justify the measures that need to be taken. This article examines a number of situation reports from both countries with regard to similarities and differences at the linguistic level. In addition to the communicative acts of describing and interpreting the situation, arguing for measures, and giving recommendations and orders, the newly emerging lexis for naming the virus and the masks will be examined. The comparison of German and French text excerpts shows that the two events, which take place in parallel but independently from each other, have numerous similarities. Differences that can be shown concern, in the field of measures and appeals, the diverging political function of the two health institutes, with a rather advisory role of the Robert Koch-Institut compared to the Direction générale de la santé as part of the Ministry of Health and thus as the stronger political decision-maker.