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Sociolinguistic Histories and the Footprint of German in Eastern Central Europe

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

in Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

This chapter constructs a historical context for the study of language(s) in central Europe, emphasising its multilingual and multiethnic nature and the tension between the emergence of ‘national’ ... More

This chapter constructs a historical context for the study of language(s) in central Europe, emphasising its multilingual and multiethnic nature and the tension between the emergence of ‘national’ languages and the persistence of linguistic minorities. The main argument is that by focusing on the changing position of, and experiences with, one language – German – across the region it is possible to explore the complex ways in which language is implicated in social change at local, national, and transnational levels. At the same time, the authors emphasize that ‘context’ is understood as a dynamic and continuous process, not a static backdrop. The study concentrates on the relationship between policies and experiences with language in Hungary and the Czech Republic (as multi- and as monolingual spaces), and so this chapter provides historical profiles of language use, language contact, language learning, language spread and language decline in these two countries, drawing on documentary and secondary sources. It also includes an account of the master narratives / dominant discourses on ‘Germans’ or ‘German-speakers’, against which the personal narratives in Chapters 5 and 6 can be pitched.Less

Language Ideologies: Negotiating Linguistic Identities

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

in Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

As in Chapter 5, the authors here look at ways in which individuals navigate their passage through the changing and sometimes turbulent circumstances of their lives through the accounts they give of ... More

As in Chapter 5, the authors here look at ways in which individuals navigate their passage through the changing and sometimes turbulent circumstances of their lives through the accounts they give of their personal experiences with language but from a different angle and focusing more on processes of group identification. This entails analysing the narratives as discourses on language and identity, drawing out the relationships between language ideologies and individual practices. This analysis provides insights into some of the ways in which changes in social and political conditions are refracted through personal experience and emerge in individual narratives as expressions of personal (re)alignment with particular social groups in relation to particular times and places.Less

German

Ulrich Busse and Manfred Görlach

in English in Europe

This chapter turns to how the English language has been incorporated into German. Topics covered include the history of language contact, pronunciation and spelling, morphology, how borrowing affects ... More

This chapter turns to how the English language has been incorporated into German. Topics covered include the history of language contact, pronunciation and spelling, morphology, how borrowing affects the meaning of loanwords, forms of linguistic borrowing and their categorization, and the future of Anglicisms.Less

Language (Auto)biographies: Narrating Multilingual Selves

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

in Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

Chapters 5 and 6 draw on the same corpus of material (individual interviews with German-speakers in Hungary and the Czech Republic) but in different ways and for different purposes. In this chapter, ... More

Chapters 5 and 6 draw on the same corpus of material (individual interviews with German-speakers in Hungary and the Czech Republic) but in different ways and for different purposes. In this chapter, the authors look closely at ways in which narrators make experiences with language an organizing/ structural element in their life stories: what is it about ‘my’ encounters with different languages – their evaluations, the times and places associated with their use, their possibilities and limitations/ constraints – that have made my ‘life’ what it (in my estimation) is or has become, as opposed to what it might have been?Less

Two Types of Nonconcatenative Morphology in Signed Languages

Gaurav Mathur and Christian Rathmann

in Deaf around the World: The Impact of Language

This chapter examines morphological processes in sign languages, with an eye toward understanding morphology that changes internal properties of a sign. Cross-linguistic comparisons of German, ... More

This chapter examines morphological processes in sign languages, with an eye toward understanding morphology that changes internal properties of a sign. Cross-linguistic comparisons of German, Japanese and American Sign Languages reveal two such types of morphological processes. One changes the sign according to fixed forms listed in the lexicon; the other looks to interaction with gestural space to determine its realization. While both are subject to language-specific constraints against marked forms, only the latter is also subject to phonological constraints against moving or twisting a manual articulator. These constraints arise because interaction with gestural space has the potential to result in forms that exceed the limits of the articulators. This latter type of nonconcatenative morphology makes sign languages unique.Less

A Point Well Taken: On the Typology and Diachrony of Pointing

Roland Pfau

in Deaf around the World: The Impact of Language

This chapter pulls in cross-linguistic observations about the development and use of pointing, whether as a gesture or a sign, from both communities that use spoken languages (in Laos, Thailand, ... More

This chapter pulls in cross-linguistic observations about the development and use of pointing, whether as a gesture or a sign, from both communities that use spoken languages (in Laos, Thailand, Australia, and Latin American Spanish) and those that use sign languages (in Denmark, Bali, and Germany). It argues that, if we set aside indexicals indicating plurality or time points, subtle changes in the phonological make-up of the remaining pointing signs will allow us to distinguish between different functions, considering both manual and nonmanual changes (e.g., eye gaze). It also addresses the issue of grammaticalization and shows how the study in chapter 4 adds to our understanding of diachronic change in sign languages.Less

German of the Jews: Linguistic Affinity and the Politics of Differentiation

in A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish: Christians and the Jewish Language in Early Modern Germany

Christian authors tried to offer a definition and explanation of the Yiddish language to their readers, often by discussing the Jewish language in relation to the German language. One reason was that ... More

Christian authors tried to offer a definition and explanation of the Yiddish language to their readers, often by discussing the Jewish language in relation to the German language. One reason was that the Christian literature on Yiddish was produced first and foremost by German-speaking scholars and published in the German-speaking lands either in Latin or German. This chapter examines how Christian authors in early modern Germany portrayed the relation between Yiddish and German, both structurally and functionally. It also looks at the social and cultural factors that influenced these depictions of Yiddish and its relation to German, and how these depictions helped promote perceptions about the place of the Jews and their language in German society, as well as in the consolidating German Sprachnation. The chapter concludes by discussing the Christian view of Yiddish as the Jews' secret language, and their contention that the Jews resorted to secrecy to deceive and harm their Christian neighbors.Less

Changes within Pennsylvania German Grammar as Enactments of Anabaptist World View

KATE BURRIDGE

in Ethnosyntax: Explorations in Grammar and Culture

This chapter examines two recent developments in Pennsylvania German grammar that go against usual pathways of grammatical change and appear to be driven by the cultural and religious preoccupations ... More

This chapter examines two recent developments in Pennsylvania German grammar that go against usual pathways of grammatical change and appear to be driven by the cultural and religious preoccupations of the speakers. For one, Pennsylvania German appears to offer a bona fide example of degrammaticalization, whereby a lexical verb wotte ‘to wish’ has re-evolved out of a grammaticalized modal verb. In addition, it shows the unusual development of a lexical verb zehle ‘to count’ into a marker of future.Less

Childhood and Education

Robert Liberles

in Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618-1945

This chapter shows how knowledge of the German language among Jews increased during the course of the 18th century. By the latter part of the century, governments increasingly mandated rudimentary ... More

This chapter shows how knowledge of the German language among Jews increased during the course of the 18th century. By the latter part of the century, governments increasingly mandated rudimentary education in the German language and basic math skills, but the greater focus on commerce had already paved the way for more attention to these subjects among Jews even prior to government intervention. Wealthier Jews could hire private instructors for themselves or for their children. Some Jews who could not afford a tutor taught themselves basic German skills. Dissatisfaction with Jewish education in Germany did not originate with the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Across the spectrum of Jewish life, by the late 18th century a strong sense had developed that an extensive reform of Jewish education was badly needed.Less

Conclusions

PATRICK STEVENSON

in Language and German Disunity: A Sociolinguistic History of East and West in Germany, 1945-2000

This concluding chapter resumes some of the fundamental questions raised in the course of the study and considers ways of interpreting linguistic encounters between east and west Germany in the ... More

This concluding chapter resumes some of the fundamental questions raised in the course of the study and considers ways of interpreting linguistic encounters between east and west Germany in the broader relevance of this specific issue to the study of sociolinguistic conflict in general.Less

Introduction

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

in Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

This chapter establishes the main themes of the book and situates it in relation to the relevant literature on language ideologies, language policies / the politics of language, multilingualism, ... More

This chapter establishes the main themes of the book and situates it in relation to the relevant literature on language ideologies, language policies / the politics of language, multilingualism, narrative, and identities. It justifies and explains the methodologies used in the study and the focus on German, and outlines the structure of the book and briefly summarises the focus of each subsequent chapter.Less

Hitlerdeutsch: Klemperer and the Language of the Third Reich

James W. Underhill

in Creating Worldviews: Metaphor, Ideology and Language

This chapter presents a case study that investigates the Nazi worldview and the role metaphors play in what Viktor Klemperer has named Hitlerdeutsch. This aim is to bear witness to the heroism of a ... More

This chapter presents a case study that investigates the Nazi worldview and the role metaphors play in what Viktor Klemperer has named Hitlerdeutsch. This aim is to bear witness to the heroism of a thinker who resisted a certain form of language, and who refused to be seduced by metaphors which became a menace to society, as they were adopted by unthinking, fervently fanatical ‘sentimentalists’. Looking through the eyes of Klemperer shows how his personal world resisted the mindset of the Nazis, and resisted the transformation of the world-perceiving and world-conceiving of the German language which began to be eaten away by the Nazi mindset. This gives some degree of form and order to the way in which metaphors worked within the Nazis' propaganda. If that allows an understanding of their mindset and the way metaphors embodied it and orchestrated Nazi rhetoric and logic, then the chapter will have served its purpose.Less

Conclusions

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

in Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

This final chapter retraces the course of the book's argument in order to show, first, how the approach necessarily relates discourses on language policy to individual narratives on linguistic ... More

This final chapter retraces the course of the book's argument in order to show, first, how the approach necessarily relates discourses on language policy to individual narratives on linguistic practices and experiences with language; secondly how the analysis of the different representations of a particular language (German) in these discourses and narratives can provide a coherent perspective on a complex sociolinguistic environment; and thirdly how this kind of study can contribute, beyond its specific concerns, more broadly to the study of language and social change in Europe.Less

Unaccusatives and Anticausatives in German

Markus Steinbach

in The Unaccusativity Puzzle: Explorations of the Syntax-Lexicon Interface

In German, anticausatives are either unaccusative or transitive reflexive. This chapter focuses on the latter, which are discussed in the context of other interpretations of transitive reflexive ... More

In German, anticausatives are either unaccusative or transitive reflexive. This chapter focuses on the latter, which are discussed in the context of other interpretations of transitive reflexive sentences (TRSs). In addition to the anticausative interpretation, TRSs also yield a reflexive, a middle, and an inherent-reflexive interpretation. This semantic ambiguity of TRSs is systematic and can be found in many other Indo-European languages. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 7.2 provides a brief overview of the basic properties of anticausatives and embeds reflexive anticausatives in the wider context of other TRSs. Section 7.3 argues for a different and, until now, new way of deriving TRSs. Section 7.4 turns to unaccusatives again. The final section briefly summarizes the main findings.Less

Yiddish and German in the Judenmission: The Limits of Linguistic Adaptation

in A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish: Christians and the Jewish Language in Early Modern Germany

Christian preoccupation with Yiddish in early modern Germany involved two tendencies: the attempt of Christians to use the Jewish language for their own purposes, and their severe criticism of ... More

Christian preoccupation with Yiddish in early modern Germany involved two tendencies: the attempt of Christians to use the Jewish language for their own purposes, and their severe criticism of Yiddish with regards to its linguistic qualities, the literature written in it, and its functions within German society. In some cases, both tendencies posed dilemmas to Christian Yiddishists, particularly in relation to their reliance on the Yiddish language to produce missionary literature. Yiddish literature on missionary work consistently emphasized the importance of linguistic adaptation for this cause, but some of the most important “Yiddish” missionary writings were written in German with Hebrew or Yiddish letters, or at least in a very “Germanized” version of Yiddish, rather than in pure Yiddish. One possible purpose of trying to accustom the Jews to the German language was to achieve Jewish conversion, linguistically and religiously. For missionaries, true conversion was a transition involving two stages: from Judaism to Christianity, and from Yiddish to German.Less

Contextual, Functional, and Geometric Components in the Semantics of Projective Terms

CAROLA ESCHENBACH

in Functional Features in Language and Space: Insights from Perception, Categorization, and Development

The projective terms of a natural language can differ regarding their syntactic properties, their dependence on reference systems, and their contextual dependency regarding objects or regions of ... More

The projective terms of a natural language can differ regarding their syntactic properties, their dependence on reference systems, and their contextual dependency regarding objects or regions of comparison. While the dependence of projective prepositions on reference systems has been considered in linguistics and psycholinguistics in detail, the other aspects are less well studied. This chapter focuses on a collection of German projective terms including prepositions, postpositions, adverbs, and adjectives. The chapter identifies similarities between different items and maps them to common semantic components or syntactic regularities. The semantics of the lexemes combine geometric components representing spatial aspects and functional components representing the principal directions on the basis of a reference system. The influence of the context on the interpretation of projective terms is mapped to the distinction between variables belonging to the argument structure of the lexemes and free variables occurring in the semantic form. The description of the semantics of the German terms in this framework shows that the similarities and variations between the lexemes can be modeled by combining a small set of semantic components in different ways.Less

Introduction: Between Hebrew and German: The Depictions of Yiddish in Christian Writings

in A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish: Christians and the Jewish Language in Early Modern Germany

The body of philological knowledge produced by Christian scholars on the Yiddish language and Yiddish literature was conceived as an effective medium for exercising control over the Jews, for ... More

The body of philological knowledge produced by Christian scholars on the Yiddish language and Yiddish literature was conceived as an effective medium for exercising control over the Jews, for conducting missionary work for them, and for promoting Christian theology. However, Christians' preoccupation with Yiddish also allowed them to participate in a broader discourse on Jews and Judaism that was taking place in early modern Germany, one which expressed—and supported—the asymmetrical power relations between Christians and Jews. Two central themes in the early modern Christian literature on Yiddish focused on the relation between Yiddish and German, and one hand, and between Yiddish and Hebrew, on the other. Christian authors formulated their criticism on Yiddish in linguistic categories, but their attitude toward the Jewish language can be linked to the broader cultural and social concerns of the time, including the attempts of German scholars to cultivate and purify the German language. Moreover, Christian scholars addressed the state of the Hebrew language among Yiddish-speaking Jews, a discourse that also involved notions of culture and ethnicity.Less