The Position Of The German Language In The World

The Position of the German Language in the World focuses on the global position of German and the factors which work towards sustaining its use and utility for international communication. From the perspective of the global language constellation, the detailed data analysis of this substantial research project depicts German as an example of a second-rank language. The book also provides a model for analysis and description of international languages other than English. It offers a framework for strengthening the position of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish and others and for countering exaggerated claims about the global monopoly position of English. This comprehensive handbook of the state of the German language in the world was originally published in 2015 by Walter de Gruyter in German and has been critically acclaimed. Suitable for scholars and researchers of the German language, the handbook shows in detail how intricately and thoroughly German and other second-rank languages are tied up with a great number of societies and how these statistics support or weaken the languages’ functions and maintenance.

Is the world en route to becoming a linguistic colony of the United States? Or is this dramatic view an exaggeration, and there is no danger to linguistic diversity at all? The German language is at the center of an intensive debate on this issue. Its position in the world is under increasing pressure due to the growing importance of (American) English as the language of globalization. The articles in this volume deal with the national and international position of German in relation to English, language policies, the future of German as a language of science, German in the USA, and the intellectual and aesthetic dimensions of encountering a foreign language. They present critical assessments addressing the dangers for the future of languages other than English, as well as positions which perceive the growing importance of English as a challenge and resource rather than as a threat.

A collection of studies on the role of English in German-speaking countries, covering a broad range of topics.

The German Language introduces students of German to a linguistic way of looking at the language. Written from a Chomksyan perspective, this volume covers the basic structural components of the German language: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and the lexicon. Explores the linguistic structure of German from current theoretical perspectives. Written from a Chomksyan perspective, this volume covers the basic structural components of the German language: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and the lexicon. Serves as a valuable resource for students of German language and literature and for linguists with little or no background in the language. Includes exercises, definitions of key terms, and suggestions for further reading.

The contributions in this volume present cutting-edge theoretical and structural analyses of issues surrounding German-language islands, or "Sprachinseln," throughout the world. The individual topics of study in this volume focus on various aspects of these German-language islands such as (but not limited to) phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of these languages under investigation. Collectively, the body of research contained in this volume explores significantly under-researched topics in the fields of language contact and language attrition and illustrates how this on-going research can be enhanced through the application of formal theoretical frameworks and structural analyses.

Annotation. This collection of specially commissioned essays focuses on the forms, functions, and uses of contemporary German in the period of dynamic change following reunification. Some contributors address broad issueslanguage and national identity, the status of German as an international language, language change and attempts to fix the form of the language, and sociolinguistic variationwhile others examine topics of particular significance in the current sociopolitical climate. These include social change and linguistic variation in Berlin after the Wall, the political language of the Rightand Left, the speech of youth subcultures, language and gender, language and television, and language in intercultural communication. Reviews of the hardback edition ̀This volume fills a void in up-to-date English-language information on German linguistics. Highly recommended for all college and university collections, as well as public libraries.' Choice, 33: 3, November 1995 ̀The appearance of this collection is timely. . .it updates us on important, immediate issues affecting German language and society' ̀. . .while this work will be appreciated most by those focusing on sociolinguistics in the German-speaking context, those searching for comparative sociolinguistic material will find it a valuable source as well.' ̀All in all, Stevenson has organized an interesting and useful volume for Germanophile sociolinguists and for those interested in a multidimensional real German.' Language Learning, 46:1, March 1996.

A broad coverage of German syntax, providing an in-depth look at object-verb sentence formation in comparison with other languages.