scholarly journals Ist Standarddeutsch für Deutschschweizer eine Fremdsprache? Untersuchungen zu einem Topos des sprachreflexiven Diskurses

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Hägi ◽  
Joachim Scharloth

This paper is concerned with the question, whether the status of Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland is adequately described as that of a foreign language. It discusses typological aspects, language awareness and language ideologies among German-speaking Swiss people, the practice of language acquisition, the language use in private life and media and the linguistic discourse about the relationship between the use of Swiss German and Standard German. It argues that from a linguistic point of view in none of these fields a clear decision can be made whether Standard German is a foreign language or not. Thus, the authors suggest that the conceptual framework ought to be widened to adequately describe the status of Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland. Finally, they take occasion to develop the concept of "Sekundärsprache"/"secondary language" for language situations similar to that in German-speaking Switzerland.

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Oberholzer

The relation between Swiss German dialects and Standard German has been subject to public and scholarly debates for over 100 years. Among the most frequently discussed points are the appropriateness of spoken Standard German in different contexts and the attitudes of Swiss people towards the two varieties. This paper summarises the results of a completed research project (Oberholzer in Vorb.), which surveyed language use and language attitudes in Swit-zerland for a specific group of speakers: pastors and priests working in German-speaking Switzerland. The paper shows how pastors and priests make use of the diglossic situation and the possibility to code-switch in Sunday services. The use of Standard German emerges as an important communicative resource in German-speaking Switzerland. In addition, real language use and intended language use match to a high degree; this shows the degree of language awareness of this particular group in a diglossic situation. Furthermore, a relatively new approach – the assumption that several mental models of High German coexist – helps to show differentiated language attitudes and to contradict some of the most common stereotypes regarding Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland. The attitudes towards Standard German in this study are significantly more positive than those observed in previous studies.


Author(s):  
Eszter Gábrity

In this paper, I examine and compare views, beliefs and ideas about two varieties of Hungarian in the framework of language ideologies. The purpose of the present paper is to illuminate the linguistic situation of the Hungarian migrants and commuters from Vojvodina through the examination of their language ideologies. The study focuses on the language ideologies of migrants and commuters who belong to the Hungarian minority community in Vojvodina and moved to Hungary or commute between Hungary and Serbia on a regular basis, thus they have frequent linguistic contacts and interactions on both sides of the border.  The research analyzes ordinary people’s views upon the relationship between their vernacular  and the standard variety, their views related to the status of their vernacular as well as their bidialectal language use. I intend to reveal how members of the Hungarian minority community locate, interpret and rationalize (if so) sociolinguistic complexities of their everyday lives. [1] The present paper presents a segment of a research project: Integrating (trans)national migrants in transition states (TRANSMIG) – joint research project in the framework of the co-operation program SCOPES (2009-2012), submitted to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Doris Wastl-Walter (Department of Geography, University of Bern).


2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Boss

Researchers agree that German is a pluricentric language and the pedagogical implications of pluricentricity have been spelt out in the D-A-CH-Konzept. This article examines three current textbooks for German as a foreign language with regard to their coverage of Switzerland as a German-speaking nation. After a brief discussion of the Swiss linguistic situation, especially the diglossic relationship between Swiss Standard German and the Swiss-German dialects, the article demonstrates that Themen neu and Stufen international contain more factual information about Switzerland than Moment mal!, but only the latter offers linguistically authentic examples of language use. The article concludes by pointing out that pluricentric German language textbooks for beginners are unfortunately still rare.


2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 538-566
Author(s):  
Sandra Issel-Dombert

AbstractFrom a theoretical and empirical linguistic point of view, this paper emphasizes the importance of the relationship between populism and the media. The aim of this article is to explore the language use of the Spanish right wing populism party Vox on the basis of its multimodal postings on the social network Instagram. For the analysis of their Instagram account, a suitable multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) provides a variety of methods and allows a theoretical integration into constructivism. A hashtag-analysis reveals that Vox’s ideology consists of a nativist and ethnocentric nationalism on the one hand and conservatism on the other. With a topos analysis, the linguistic realisations of these core elements are illustrated with two case studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-62
Author(s):  
Philip C. Vergeiner

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between accommodation processes and social norms in varietal choice within tertiary education in Austria. The investigation consists of (a) a content analysis of metalinguistic statements in semi-structured interviews and (b) a variable rule analysis of actual language variation in university lectures.The findings show that there are norms prescribing that listeners must have at least be able to comprehend a particular variety, whereas accommodation to actual language use does not appear to be required to the same extent. However, the norms depend strongly on group membership: while there is a norm prescribing the use of the standard variety in the presence of speakers of German as a foreign language, there is no such norm for Austrians vis-à-vis people from Germany, although speakers from both groups may lack the ability to understand the respective nonstandard varieties. This difference can be explained by the sociocultural context and differing language attitudes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
D. V. Mukhetdinov

This paper focuses on the analysis of the Islamic thinker Kh. A. ElFadl’s political and legal conception. This conception assesses the potential of the Islamic tradition for the legitimization of democracy. We indicates that El-Fadl’s concept is not another ‘Islamic democracy’ project, but an analysis of the relationship between democratic ethos and Islamic political values. It is demonstrated that an adequate understanding of this relationship requires a comprehension of Qur’anic anthropology — the idea of human call, in particular. The logical transition from acceptance of God’s sovereignty and the status of man as His earthly governor (a successive authority’) to the inadmissibility of usurpation of power is considered reasonable. The article proves that El-Fadl allows historical variability of the forms of checks and balances that impede usurpation of power. Therefore, he emphasizes precisely the democratic ethos, and not a particular political theory or a specific political regime. The irregularity of the monopolization of a democratic ethos by the Western culture, on the one hand, and the monopolization of Shari‘a by Islamists, on the other, is thoroughly noted. In the conclusion the author outlines a general understanding of the nature of Shari‘a and the Shari‘ah foundations of political practice in the concept of El-Fadl.


Author(s):  
Edit H. Kontra ◽  
Kata Csizér

Abstract The aim of this study is to point out the relationship between foreign language learning motivation and sign language use among hearing impaired Hungarians. In the article we concentrate on two main issues: first, to what extent hearing impaired people are motivated to learn foreign languages in a European context; second, to what extent sign language use in the classroom as well as outside school shapes their level of motivation. The participants in our research were 331 Deaf and hard of hearing people from all over Hungary. The instrument of data collection was a standardized questionnaire. Our results support the notion that sign language use helps foreign language learning. Based on the findings, we can conclude that there is indeed no justification for further neglecting the needs of Deaf and hard of hearing people as foreign language learners and that their claim for equal opportunities in language learning is substantiated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Lindahl ◽  
Kathryn I. Henderson

Abstract Important components of the teacher knowledge base are how aware a teacher is of language (including how it is acquired and best taught), as well as their language ideologies. Because a combination of ideologies and awareness may guide many pedagogical decisions, this mixed-methods sequential explanatory study explored prevalent language ideological orientations of educators in a dual language immersion (DLI) context, their degrees of Teacher Language Awareness (TLA), and the relationship between the two. Findings revealed that participants with high degrees of TLA oriented significantly more positively towards additive language ideologies, while educators with low degrees of TLA were significantly more likely to orient toward deficit ideologies. Data from cases representing high and low degrees of TLA provide an in-depth view of the relationship between teachers’ TLA and ideologies in practice. This study extends an understanding of how language awareness and ideologies interact, along with implications for pre- and in-service teacher professional development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arja Nurmi

Abstract This article discusses the multilingual practices identified in the public and private writings of Laurence Sterne, novelist and clergyman. The data used consists of Sterne’s two novels as well as a selection of his personal correspondence. Sterne uses a wide variety of languages in his texts, although the most common ones are French and Latin, the languages he seems to have been most fluent in. Sterne engages in some practices associated with translanguaging, particularly in terms of playful language use and mediation of foreign-language passages, but it is impossible to pinpoint any specific characteristics of translanguaging for certain. On the whole, it would seem that the analysis of Sterne’s multilingual practices does not benefit from the translanguaging point-of-view.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-33
Author(s):  
Sotiria Pappa ◽  
Josephine Moate

Although different forms of English-medium instruction (EMI) are being recognised, the different ways in which EMI can impact the pedagogical activities and expertise of higher education educators have received less attention. Using face-to-face and written interviews with nine teacher educators at a Finnish university, this study examines the most important aspects teacher educators perceive in their work through EMI and how these aspects connect to the understanding of their professional identity. The study is theoretically premised on the interconnected concepts of pedagogical doing, pedagogical being, pedagogical relating, and pedagogical language awareness. The thematically analysed data highlighted the ways in which pedagogical being, doing, and relating revolve around the presence and role of the foreign language in EMI, as well as the concurrent disjunctures and opportunities EMI creates. Pedagogical being informed EMI teacher educators’ orientation to their work and the different ways language impinges on the sense of self as the teacher educators share how they try to understand and respond to the disjunctures of EMI. In terms of pedagogical doing, EMI impinges on how teacher educators enact their practice and the relationships developed with students. However, the focus of pedagogical relating addresses the relationship between the EMI teacher educators and their workplace. The findings from this study will hopefully contribute to the development of EMI teacher preparation and support critical discussions on the ‘Englishisation’ of higher education.


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