scholarly journals Ethnicity in motion? German language islands in Brazil and Russia

Gragoatá ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (42) ◽  
pp. 44-91
Author(s):  
Peter Klaus Rosenberg
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
National Language ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
German Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Case Morphology ◽  
German Standard ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Core Idea

Today, German language islands in Russia and Brazil are on the way to language shift. On this way, the varieties of these communities display certain features of decomposition and simplification in terms of morphology. Regular and irregular morphology, however, are developing differently: while case reduction is the main characteristic of regular noun inflection, in personal pronouns case distinctions are maintained. Results are presented from a research project about language change in case morphology of German language islands with 125 speakers living in close contact to the majority populations in Brazil and Ruguage obsolescence as from language emergence which has been the subject of linguistic research in the past. Through its comparative perspective, it seems possible to accoussia. The core idea of the project is the assumption that we can learn as well from lannt for internally or externally induced linguistic change. Language decay is apparently not just disorder, not amorphous, but somehow struc­tured. Certain lexical classes are more subject to reduction than others, and some residual features retain morphological “core” functions (in terms of case semantics). Language change is accelerated in times of blurring sociolinguistic differences and fading linguistic norms as an implication of losing ethnic boundaries. The recent co-officialization of minority languages in Brazil might slow down these processes. In a transcultural approach, teaching of Pomeranian as minority language (alongside the national language) could stabilize the local linguistic community, building a bridge to the High German standard language, and even to English as a lingua franca of international communication.

scholarly journals Attitudes of South Tyrolean University Students towards German Varieties

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Mara Maya Victoria Leonardi
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
German Language ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
South Tyrol ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
German Standard ◽  
The Subject ◽  
University Teacher Training

This paper examines language attitudes of South Tyroleans towards German varieties used in educational institutions by means of a questionnaire survey with 55 university students. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into subjects’ attitudes towards their own and other German (standard) varieties, with a focus on the sociolinguistic situation in South Tyrol (northern Italy). Previous studies have shown that the German-speaking community often have the notion that their own standard variety is deficient combined with a feeling of linguistic inferiority towards German speakers from Germany. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the following research questions: Which attitudes do South Tyrolean university students have towards the different German (standard) varieties? Do university teacher-training students get in touch with the concept of the pluricentric variation within the German standard variety during their education? Results reveal that despite a certain awareness of the issue of linguistic variation in the German language, the standard variety used in Germany still enjoys high prestige among our subjects compared to other German standard varieties. Moreover, results show that the students were hardly confronted with the subject of the German standard variety used in South Tyrol or with the variation of the German language during their high school years. However, this changes as soon as they attend university.

“You Have Everything Confused and Mixed Up…!” Georg Schweinfurth, Knowledge and Cartography of Africa in the 19th Century

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 87-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Fritsch
Keyword(s):  
Technical Progress ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Exact Expression ◽  
German Language ◽  
Regional Geography ◽  
Fundamental Significance ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
First Time

Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen, the leading German geographical journal of the nineteenth century, is of fundamental significance for the early scholarly study of Africa. It printed numerous accounts by practically all of the important explorers of the time, in particular under the aegis of the geographer August Petermann. Of particular significance are the cartographic supplements to the articles published in the journal. These maps showed for the first time hitherto unknown areas of Africa. Although the data for these maps were often collected in the field under difficult conditions by European travellers, and drawn up in Gotha with the assistance of numerous specialists (astronomers, geologists, cartographers, lithographers, graphic artists), their creation would have been impossible without the cooperation of Africans. That is to say, these maps, a medium seen as a most exact expression of scientific and technical progress, could not have been produced without the assistance of so-called “natives” or “savages.” This aspect of cartographic production, to which little attention has been paid so far, is the subject of a research project at the Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig initiated in May 2009. In the course of this project, a range of German-language travelers' accounts will be studied, giving special attention to the role of indigenous informants and in combination with archival materials. This paper is based on the example of the German African explorer Georg Schweinfurth.In September 1863, the as yet unknown botanist Georg Schweinfurth announced the start of his African projects in a “call to botanists” in Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen, describing his planned “expedition over several years to Egypt, Nubia and the countries of the Upper Nile, devoted solely to botanical purposes.” Although Schweinfurth did not publish solely in the Geographische Mittheilungen in the following years, he remained in close contact with Petermann, especially with regard to new geographical discoveries. Unlike other travelers, Schweinfurth often visited areas barely known to geographers, where he compared existing maps most carefully with his own observations. In this way he was able to correct many inaccuracies and improve European cartographic knowledge of these regions. A total of six maps by Schweinfurth appeared in the Geographische Mittheilungen between 1865 and 1877.

Der deutsche Dativ genealogisch und diachron

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-111
Author(s):  
Michail L. Kotin
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dative Case ◽  
Common Base ◽  
The Subject

Abstract The German dative case from genealogic and diachronic perspective. A language-change study about the third case. The dative case belongs to the so-called syncretistic cases, i. e., it encodes multiple functions inherited from the Indo-European cases locative, instrumental, ablative and dative. The paper aims to show the emergence of diverse case functions formally encoded by the dative case from a common base which is assumed to have the locative semantics. The decisive point was, according to the hypothesis, the development of the directional function towards the object or away from it. The addressee dative arose as a result of a specific reanalysis of movement semantics. The so-called dative of subject emerged from reanalysis of the subject-related experiencer function.

Language policy and language planning in mainland Southeast Asia: Myanmar and Lisu

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

AbstractMost nations in mainland Southeast Asia and elsewhere have one national language as a focus of national identity and unity, supported by a language policy which promotes and develops this language. Indigenous and immigrant minority groups within each nation may be marginalized; their languages may become endangered. Some of the official national language policies and ethnic policies of mainland Southeast Asian nations aim to support both a national language and indigenous minority languages, but usually the real policy is less positive. It is possible to use sociolinguistic and educational strategies to maintain the linguistic heritage and diversity of a nation, develop bilingual skills among minority groups, and integrate minorities successfully into the nations where they live, but this requires commitment and effort from the minorities themselves and from government and other authorities. The main focus of this paper is two case studies: one of language policy and planning in Myanmar, whose language policy and planning has rarely been discussed before. The other is on the Lisu, a minority group in Myanmar and surrounding countries, who have been relatively successful in maintaining their language.

scholarly journals Language Challenges in Global and Regional Integration

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
National Language ◽  
University Education ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Linguistic Capital

Summary The article analyses whether the expansion of English is adding to linguistic repertoires, or whether a process of linguistic capital dispossession of national languages is taking place. It explores the role that discourses of ‘global English’ and of English as a ‘lingua franca’ play in processes of global and regional European integration. It considers whether the linguistic capital of all languages can be made productive when in much of Europe there is a marked downgrading of the learning of foreign languages other than English, alongside the continued neglect of many minority languages. Language pedagogy and language policy need to be situated within wider political, social and economic contexts. EU schemes for research collaboration and student mobility are of limited help in maintaining linguistic diversity. The Bologna process furthers European integration but intensifies the hegemony of English. Nordic universities are moving into bilingual education, combining English with a national language. The 2006 Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy aims at ensuring that Nordic languages and English develop in parallel, that all residents can maintain their languages, and that language policy issues should be widely understood. If neoliberalism and linguistic neoimperialism are determining factors, there are challenges in maintaining the vitality of languages, and organizing school and university education so as to educate critical multilingual citizens.

scholarly journals On life cycle of a phrase (a case study of German language)

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Daniil Andreevich Bakhmatov
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
German Language ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Single Process ◽  
Cyclic Processes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Diachronic Changes

The goal of this research consists in identification and complex description of the stages of existence of a phrase. The subject of this research is changes in the use that afflict phrases in diachrony. The author determines the types of such changes, which characterize the stages of existence of a phrase since its emergence, as well as possible ways of development of a phrase (in terms of unchangeability of its composition and level of idiomaticity).Based on the material of verbal-nominal phrases in German language, both free and phraseologisms, and attraction of corpus-based data, the changes in use are perceived as elements of a single process. The scientific novelty lies in the attempt to describe the models of diachronic changes as cyclic processes; reveal common trends in development of phrases and in applicability of the definition of “life cycle” to the indicted processes. The concept of “life cycle”, used in various sciences for designating the natural, repeating processes, found its reflection in linguistics. However, cyclic processes in phraseology yet remain unstudied, despite the existing description of such phenomena as usualization, phraseologization, and dephraseologization. In conclusion, the author presents a dynamic model of life cycle of a phrase; the changes in use are viewed as its part; as well as offers the terms “deusualization” and “reusualization”. The obtained life cycle model can find application in further research in the area of diachronic phraseology and phrase formation.

scholarly journals Skriftsprogskompetence og skriftsprogsvalg hos to kommandanter på Kronborg i 2. halvdel af 1600-tallet

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Written Language ◽  
German Language ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Command Language ◽  
Vital Importance ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Professional Writers ◽  
Selection Of

It is a rule of thumb that the army’s command language was German until 1773 andafter that Danish. But along with the language of the army, the army’s administrationalso had a written language, and that is the subject of this brief empirical study. Thestudy will discuss the written language skills and the choice of written language by twocommandants of the same age at Kronborg, who were otherwise very different people,each holding the position of commandant at the fortress for a number of years in thesecond half of 17th century, in a selection of letters from them to the king and thecentral administration. The letters are often about the construction work, which tookplace at Kronborg at the time. The following questions are asked: Which language wasused when writing to whom? And what language did they allow to be written to whom,when they used professional writers? In what situations did they use professional writers?Was the choice of language determined by the recipient? The first is the Danishnobleman Eiller Holck (1627–1696). The letters examined are from 1660–1664. EillerHolck, who was quite well-educated, was skilled at writing in both Danish and German,but mostly used a writer, and when writing himself, he seldomly wrote more than ashort text near his signature. When he himself wrote to the king, he wrote Danish,but when writing to the king using a writer, the writer used German. This was also thecase when writing to the Danish/Norwegian nobleman Jørgen Bielke. This is perhapslinked with the language skills of the writer that was available. Holck took into accountthe fact that his superior, Danish Field Marshall Hans Schack, preferred German. BothHans Schack and Eiller Holck used translations in communications with their troops.The second is Jacob Geueke, son of a commoner from Burg on the German island ofFemern (1617–1699). The letters examined are from 1688–1692. He used German language writers, only wrote amendments on the letters himself and only in Germanand was not satisfied with his own standard of writing. Perhaps he understood Danish.It is of vital importance that many of the recipients of the letters in the central administrationwere from Holsten. Perhaps the delivered correspondence would have beenin Danish to a greater extent had Jørgen Bielke been more involved in the administration?

scholarly journals “The naturalized son of Belarus”: The Mystery of Dr. Dittmann

2021 ◽  
pp. 233-253
Author(s):  
Igor I. Barinov
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Language ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Long Time ◽  
German Origin ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Source Of Information

The article examines the biography of Valentin Dittmann, a lawyer and politician of Baltic-German origin, who became a counselor of the Diplomatic Mission of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR) in Berlin. The German-language brochure “Weissruthenien” was published with Dittmann’s active involvement and was considered as the main source of information about this region in Germany for a long time. In a broader context, through the prism of Dittmann’s life and activities, the transformation of the system of ideas and motivations of former Imperial elites after the 1917 revolution became the subject of research. The desire to preserve and improve their social status during the political instability has significantly expanded the boundaries of imaginary. In particular, the elite representatives previously loyal to the throne could drastically change their views on the very idea of a “strong state”. From now on their position ranged from federalism to cooperation with those who were previously considered as “separatists”. On the example of Dittmann, we can follow the peculiar experience of the “homo impericus”, who strove to combine the elitist consciousness inherited from his ancestors with national democratic political views and local (Belo) russian patriotism.

scholarly journals The Trace of the Untranslatable: Emmanuel Levinas and the Ethics of Translation

PhaenEx ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
DOROTA GLOWACKA
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
National Language ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Fundamental Structure ◽  
Ethics Of Responsibility ◽  
Ethical Subjectivity

Looking at Holocaust testimonies, which in her view always involve some form of translation, the author seeks to develop an ethics of translation in the context of Levinas’ hyperbolic ethics of responsibility. Calling on Benjamin and Derrida to make explicit the precipitous task of the translator, she argues that the translator faces an ethical call or assignation that resembles the fundamental structure of Levinasian subjectivity. The author relates the paradoxes of translation in Holocaust testimony to Levinas’ silence on the problem of translation—puzzling if one considers Levinas’ focus on the ethical essence of language, his multilingualism, and the fact that he wrote his texts in a second language. She proposes that the trace of the philosopher’s displacement from his linguistic community can be discerned in his exilic conception of ethical subjectivity and in the testimonial impetus that animates his work. Thus, although Levinas’ Saying is posited as a translinguistic horizon that transcends the boundaries of a particular national language, it carries the remainder of the disavowed loss of the mother tongue.

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