ABSTRACT
Language use is always closely related to exercise of power, whether ideological power as expressed in semantic categories, such as the idea of the “institution” and its production of institutional “persons,” or discursive power as in the work of Michel Foucault. It may appear that is large conceptual difference between an apparently innocuous context of defining who is who on an academic website and the processes of inclusion and exclusion that go with violent political conflict. An important arena of study is the question of how language is used in conflict situations, and how it can become a source either of mediating and transcending conflict or of exacerbating it. Another category of speech acts that fits in here is the category of gossip and rumor. The chief conclusions from author work on rumor and gossip were, that they are often instrumental in generating conflict, and they are difficult to refute and can therefore lead to serious conflict and violence.
