No meio do caminho tinha um muro: O Muro de Berlim e suas implicações na concepção do outro – uma análise linguístico cognitiva baseada em frames

Abstract

The Berlin Wall (1961–1989), a central symbol of the Cold War and ideological division, bequeathed to the reunified Germany not only physical unity but also the emergence of “mental walls” that persist in the cultural and economic divergences between Ossis (Easterners) and Wessis (Westerners). This study investigates the maintenance of these "mental walls" in the present day, decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, by analyzing the term "Ossi," its lexical derivations, and visual appeals. The research is anchored in Frame Semantics Theory (Fillmore, 1982, 1985), the notion of Construal (Langacker, 1987), the concept of the “Mental Wall” (Palliwoda, 2019, 2022), and the notion of Frame-Shifting (Coulson, 2001). The objective is to verify the persistence of negative frames proposed by Westerners and their acceptance by the Ossi, as suggested by Queiroz (2024), through a corpus of memes. The results indicate that the Ossi still accepts the negative frame proposed by the Wessi but employs ironic humor as a mechanism of resistance and frame ressignification. This process of ressignification transforms symbols of inferiority into elements of pride and belonging, confirming the continuity of the Ossi’s struggle for a validated identity in the current era.