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This study examines the attitudes of German-speaking pupils towards Sorbian-language education and the problems these pupils indicate as an obstacle to becoming bilingual through educational settings. Based on the research carried out in the Upper Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany) combining a statistical survey, in-depth interviews with pupils and participant observation of pupils language practices, this paper discusses the case study of a school with a three-type education programme of Upper Sorbian language: immersion, bilingual, and teaching it as a foreign language. The paper contributes to the discussion on the effectiveness of bilingual and foreign minority language learning in a situation of unequal bilingualism in a territory inhabited by a small minority language community. The text presents these problems from the German-speaking pupils' viewpoint and concerns: the teaching methods and their effectiveness; possible language contacts as a factor of acquiring a minority language; attitudes of native pupils and teachers to learners; the ideology of language ownership and speakers legitimisation. These aspects are presented in the context of different types of minority language speakers: 'learners', 'new speakers' and 'native speakers' and is presented against the background of the discussion on minority language education in the process of Upper Sorbian language revitalisation.

This paper describes and discusses findings from an explorative study on multilingualism among university staff. In a project conducted in the University of Hamburg, 661 members of staff in administrative and technical roles have participated in a survey on their multilingual repertoires, on the usage of different languages as well as multilingual language practices in their daily work routine. The theoretical framework is informed by economic considerations on the value of languages (Grin, F. (2003). Language planning and economics. "Current Issues in Language Planning," 4(1), 1-66) as well as sociolinguistic work on language and employability (Duchêne, A., & Heller, M. (Eds.). (2012). "Routledge critical studies in multilingualism: Vol. 1. Language in late capitalism: Pride and profit." New York: Routledge; Piller, I. (2016). "Linguistic diversity and social justice: An introduction to applied sociolinguistics" (1st ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press). Among other things, the descriptive statistics firstly exhibit a wide range of multilingual resources within the workforce with over 60 different languages that are spoken by the participants. Secondly, an extensive and regular usage of languages other than German (LOTG) can be seen with over 75% of the participants indicating to make regular use other languages at work. Thirdly, generally positive attitudes towards the usage of LOTG can be observed. Further analysis and a critical discussion, however, reveals that LOTG usage remains limited to using English in the vast majority of instances, reinforcing the hegemonic role of English (and in some cases French, Spanish and Italian) and disregarding actual linguistic diversity and migrant languages.

Fewer than 15% of primary school teachers in both Germany and the UK are male. With the on-going international debate about educational performance highlighting the widening gender achievement gap between girl and boy pupils, the demand for more male teachers has become prevalent in educational discourse. Concerns have frequently been raised about the underachievement of boys, with claims that the lack of male 'role models' in schools has an adverse effect on boys' academic motivation and engagement. Although previous research has examined 'teaching' as institutional talk, men's linguistic behaviour in the classroom remains largely ignored, especially in regard to enacting discipline. Using empirical spoken data collected from four primary school classrooms in both the UK and in Germany, this paper examines the linguistic discipline strategies of eight male and eight female teachers using Interactional Sociolinguistics to address the question, does teacher gender matter?

This paper deals with the initial findings from an international research project called "Children Crossing Borders." This study focused on discovering how early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems in five countries (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the USA) serve the children of recent immigrants and what parents with diverse backgrounds want for their children in ECEC settings. The paper will focus on the issue of multilingualism of immigrant children in ECEC systems in two of the five countries: Germany and France. The questions which guide the paper were: What are the perceptions of the dominant language or nondominant languages among parents and practitioners? How do national contexts affect how the home language(s) is/are used or not used in school settings?

Based on small case-study illustrations from a variety of European countries, this study aims to explore methodological aspects of the study of curriculum history by expanding its traditional research scope. In so doing, it is argued that sociolinguistic issues are essential to this discussion. The main argument is that sociolinguistics and curriculum history are more closely intertwined than has been proposed by previous academic literature. Under the examination are often two sides of the same coin which are viewed from different, albeit closely related, research angles. In effect, the curriculum's contextualisation is also structured and modified by sociolinguistic considerations. In the conclusion, it is maintained that citizenship education--understood here as the historical manifestation of the dominant cultural expectations towards the citizens as the bearers of a particular nation state during a specific timeframe--should be better informed by sociolinguistic literature, and by that, also placed against those language controversies that surround the curriculum. On this basis, by adding value to the study of the curriculum as part of educational history--and by blurring unnecessary academic boundaries--this paper provides interdisciplinary insights into the study of curriculum history vis-à-vis sociolinguistics, which have so far remained too separated.

This paper examines representations of sociolinguistic difference in a German "ethnic comedy" as a means to contribute to a framework for the sociolinguistic study of film. Three levels of analysis of sociolinguistic difference in film are distinguished: repertoire analysis reconstructs the entirety of codes used in a film and their assignment to characters; character analysis looks at how different ways of speaking contribute to characterisation; scene analysis examines how choices of and encounters between different codes within a scene may draw on language-ideological assumptions to contribute to the dramatic development of film narrative, and how relationships or changes in footing among characters are indexed by stylistic variation. This framework is applied to the analysis of "Superseks", a comedy set in the urban milieu of Hamburg's Turkish community. The findings suggest that the characters' linguistic repertoires differ by their narrative importance, gender and generation. In scenes with bilingual dialogue, code choice and code-switching are found to contextualise conflictual relations among major characters. Superseks relies heavily on stereotypical assumptions about language and ethnicity, class, gender and generation, by which stereotypical relations between sociolinguistic difference and narrative evaluation or importance are sustained. (Contains 2 tables and 6 notes.)

Although Germany has experienced net in-migration for the past five decades, this fact has only recently been officially acknowledged. Furthermore, Germany is marked by a general monolingual self-concept very much attached to the idea of a nation-state with one homogeneous language. However, in large urban areas of Germany about 35 per cent of the population has a migration background, as has almost every second child enrolling in primary school. Hence the country is marked by this dichotomy between a monolingual policy discourse and a multilingual society, manifested in everyday life and, as a consequence, in educational institutions. The fact is that this political attitude towards Germany's own migration history and migrants has led to an educational gap between students with a migration background and their monolingual peers. In 2000, a project was started in Hamburg, aiming to overcome this educational gap and involving the creation of bilingual schools for some of the largest migrant languages. Bilingual classes were thus set up for the following language combinations: German-Portuguese, German-Italian, German-Spanish and German-Turkish, and were evaluated by the University of Hamburg. This paper reports on the model used and the specific school outcomes of the students attending these classes.

Ethnolinguistic vitality theory asserts that Status, Demographic, Institutional Support and Control factors make up the vitality of ethnolinguistic groups. An assessment of a group's strengths and weaknesses in each of these dimensions provides a rough classification of ethnolinguistic groups into those having low, medium, or high vitality. Low vitality groups are most likely to go through linguistic assimilation and may not be considered a distinctive collective group. On the other hand, high vitality groups are likely to maintain their language and distinctive cultural traits in multilingual settings. Compared to other models, Ethnoliguistic Vitality Theory (EVT) and its accompanying instruments provide a broader and more inclusive framework for the investigation of language maintenance and shift. However, the empirical evidence obtained in a number of contexts point to an underestimation of the actual vitality of some minority groups. In this paper, based on the findings on ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of Turkish immigrants in Australia, France, Germany and the Netherlands, a critical evaluation of EVT will be presented. (Contains 5 tables.)

Computational approaches have grown in prominence amidst advancements in new media and technologies and ever-increasing amounts of digital data. This article critically examines these automated techniques, especially the analytical affordances and concerns that such methods introduce to the study of online migrant and mobility discourses. The paper further argues for a mixed methodology anchored on social representations theory--a contextually sensitive framework that enables reflexive use of computational approaches, i.e., quantitatively analyze but also explore different layers of cultural and linguistic meanings in online diasporic interactions. With Filipino migrants in Germany as a case study and partner community, the study then demonstrates the combined application of topic modeling and ethnographically inspired qualitative analysis on migrant posts in Facebook. The findings are discussed in the form of a cultural reflection on Filipino values and expectations and an advocacy for mixed methodologies grounded on critical, social, and practice-oriented theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive expansion of English in Germany over the past few decades has not challenged a robustly exonormative orientation, which still by and large recognises standardised British and American English as the most authentic and prestigious representations of the language. Attitudes to the use of English in the national context are diverse, ranging from enthusiastic embracement via grudging acceptance to active resistance. This diversity of opinion reflects the fact that English is currently transitioning from a foreign language (EFL) to a lingua franca (ELF). On the national scale, ELF use is promoted in business, academia and, more generally, among young and well‐educated Germans with an international orientation, but deeply resented by sectors of society. This paper argues that English (in its lingua franca function) has become the only language other than German that has open prestige. The task ahead will be to develop strategies of intelligent multilingualism that will help to 'domesticate' English in the national sociolinguistic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family and educational institutions are the main centers of socialization in heritage language. Beyond the communicative and learning dynamics that take place in both environments, linguistic socialization also depends to a large extent on the relationship of families with educational spaces. The aim of this paper is to discuss families' expectations regarding the intergenerational transmission of Spanish and to explore their attitudes towards heritage language and educational programs in Germany. For this purpose, the results of an exploratory study based on surveys will be presented to compare the main arguments justifying Spanish-speaking families' decision to include heritage language courses or bilingual education spaces in their family language management in the German context. The analysis of the perception of families and their attitudes shows that the positive valuation of the family and instrumental dimension of heritage language influence families to include bilingual programs or heritage language classes in their family language management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a particular speech style or speaking a language variety such as a multi-ethnolect implies a continuous 'act of identity', i.e. a way of self-positioning through which speakers develop and consolidate a sense of belonging to a group. Starting with this assumption, this paper depicts the close correlations between linguistic variables and definition of macro-sociological categories for multilingual speakers. We will firstly focus on the main peculiarities of a new way of speaking emerging in multiethnic urban Germany (often referred to as 'Kiezdeutsch'), which combines features of a youth language with those of a contact language; then we will examine the major functions of sociolinguistic variation in social meaning construction as well as in the process of shaping one's own linguistic and cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the study presented in this paper the use of a specific linguistic non-standard feature of German by 100 speakers representing three generations was analysed. The speakers originate from 25 different locations within the Middle Franconian dialect formation covering the middle-western parts of Germany. The feature analysed is the realisation of the Standard German phoneme /r/ as a voiceless velar or uvular fricative [x, χ] when following a short vowel and preceding a coronal obstruent. The comparison of how frequently the speakers use [χ] in different communicative contexts results in the observation of three types of speakers (i. e., [χ] users): The first type are dialect speakers mostly of the older generation (60 years and above) who use the variant in a traditional manner, namely when aiming at producing their best way to pronounce Standard German. According to these speakers [χ] forms part of the Standard German pronunciation norm. The second type is mainly represented by middle aged speakers (45-55 years) who use the feature in nearly all communicative contexts except when they have a dialect competency and are asked to produce their "strongest dialect". Finally, the third type of speakers are mainly young people (17-23 years) who do not have any dialect competence. These speakers only use [χ] when they are asked to produce their "strongest dialect" and/or when they are talking to friends. On the basis of these results it is argued that, between these types of speakers and the generations they represent, a re-evaluation of the feature has taken place that may be classified as enregisterment, because speakers of the third type seem to use [χ] indexically in order to signal familiarity with their interlocutors on a interpersonal-social level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper begins by looking at responses to Bernstein in Germany in the 1970s that criticized his notions of class difference in sociolinguistic codes. As part of a re-examination of Bernstein's ideas, the paper goes on to look at the current communicative situation in German education where urban schools have many second-generation immigrant students. As part of a long-term research project on communicative styles of young Turkish immigrants in Mannheim (see Keim, Sprachliche Varianz und sprachliche Virtuosität von türkischstämmigen ‘Ghetto’-Jugendlichen in Mannheim, Narr, 2007), I explore the uses of German as a school language or ‘Schriftsprache’, in which culture-specific knowledge of genres used in formal and institutional situations are taught. I find that urban adolescents have a wide stylistic repertoire that contains ethnolectal forms, bi- or multilingual mixings, switchings and crossings as well as forms of ‘schooled language’. Elements of this repertoire are used differentially in oral and written narratives. In this paper I will focus on the use of linguistic and communicative resources in written material from different social contexts (formal vs. informal), reconstruct the discursive or social functions of linguistic choices, and compare the discursive procedures used in oral and written texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the Internet in diaspora has attracted considerable interest in media and cultural studies, but little attention has been paid to sociolinguistic issues. This paper is a study of linguistic diversity on websites maintained for and by members of diaspora groups in Germany. Based on online ethnography and an interpretive approach to code-switching, the paper explores the relationships between language choices and the complex architecture of these websites, which offer edited content as well as spaces for user interaction. Language choice in edited sections, patterns of code-switching in discussion forums, and language choice for user screen names and message signatures are examined. The findings demonstrate how code choices are tailored to the requirements of different modes within a website, and how various codes are creatively employed to display and negotiate identities that are related to the diaspora and its virtual discursive spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes a characteristic syndrome of modern literature identified as "anxiety of influence" by literary critics and as "mania for originality" by art historians. Based on a sociological reformulation of the syndrome as it relates to the structure of acknowledged influence, the paper develops and tests several hypotheses. Data are based on a survey of West German writers and are analyzed by using clustering techniques and correspondence analysis. First, the analysis demonstrates the fragmented and non-hierarchical structure of acknowledged literaty influence. Second, the different types of influence (absence distinctiveness, and clusterability) correspond to different professional and literary characteristics of writers. Results highlight one of the contradictions between the cultural code and the professional structure of modem an: at the level of ideology, greatness and genius are equated with the absence of influence and artistic uniqueness. The analysis shows, however, that the denial/absence of acknowledged influence is found among writers who are excluded from the professional networks where reputations are made in the world of literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second half of the eighteenth century, a far-reaching change took place in the language of Southern Germany and Austria. This change from the traditional baroque Upper German written language [oberdeutsche Schreibsprache] to modern High German occurred not only in the language of printing, but also in private letters. One result of this transition is a broad variety of linguistic forms. The extensive correspondence between members of the Mozart family (father, mother, daughter, son) is an extremely useful subject for the investigation of this language variation. After a series of introductory sections, the usage of written language by the different members of the family will be analyzed in part one of this paper. The range of variety reaches from Leopold Mozart's modern, educated German to the traditional, partly colloquial language of Mozart's mother. A separate chapter deals with W. A. Mozart's creative use of language (and varieties), his fancy for artificial jokes and word play [Sprachspiele]. Part two deals with the question of what we can learn from the written language of the letters about how the Mozarts spoke with each other and with other members of their society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines one of the major metalinguistic debates in post-war Germany: the debate about the influence of English on German, an issue which was raised in the 1990s in the German media and has dominated media discussions on language ever since. The analysis demonstrates that the debate is deeply embedded in current socio-political discourses as well as in long-term discursive traditions concerning, on the one hand, the socio-political changes following German reunification in 1989/90, which involved a revision of the concepts of nation and nationalism, and, on the other, the genesis of the concept of nation, which is closely bound up with the history of the educated bourgeoisie and the process of standardisation as well as linguistic purism. It is argued that the debate on Anglicisms, as is the case in many other metalinguistic debates, cannot be regarded in isolation from the socio-political environment and the context of historical usage within which it is embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the translation of sociolinguistic variation by examining the ways that African American English(AAE) is dubbed into German. In discussing this ubiquitous yet poorly studied area of language use, I show that ideas about language as an index to social groupings are transferable to the degree that the ideas overlap in the cultures in question. In the case of German, if the character being dubbed is young, male and tied to the street cultures of the urban inner city, then AAE is dubbed using a form of German that has links to the urban youth cultures of north-central Germany. The transferability of sociolinguistic variation is important to issues related to cross-cultural communication and the ideologies that may play a role in the outcomes of that communication as well as to linguistic creativity and language style more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study of mixed language use within the frame of interactional sociolinguistics. Adolescents of Turkish background in Germany have developed their own patterns of bilingualism, in particular mixed varieties of German and Turkish. By the analysis of some transcribed examples of Turkish-German mixed speech (code-switching, code-mixing, code-oscillation, stylised forms of 'Immigrant German') it is shown that the switching and mixing oscillates between local sequential functions and a more global 'We-group'-function. The particular role assigned to 'speaking mixed' can only be appreciated against the specific background of the German migratory discourse. The adolescents' use of hybrid language is an attempt at appropriating semantic space where their language is no longer the object of the migratory discourse as defined by majority society but constitutes an autonomous and exclusive form of (counter-) discourse in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper approaches the linguistic setting of a European inner-city, an area with a long history of migration from a sociological and linguistic perspective. After a qualitative-heuristical research and (ethnomethodological) conversation analysis, we are able to present a description of sociolingual conditions and the process of their transformation. In the first part we focus on the relationship between language, culture, identity and social structure. We argue that old structures are breaking up, and that new patterns of speech-communities are developing. We shall come out against common ideas about lingual transformation in the Federal Republic of Germany: against the 'assimilatonist view' (the language of origin disappears with the third generation of migrants) and the 'view of difference', this is connected with the concept of 'ethnic revival' and observes the revitalisation of the languages of origin). Our argument will be put forward in an exploration of phenomenon of 'mixed language' (that's what the interviewees called their way of speaking) in the world of inner-city juveniles. By embedding these linguistic practices in the ethnographical concept of 'liminality', we tried to understand the loosening process of the relationship between linguistic practices, identity through nationality and social structure. The usage of language appears as a means of constructing their social position among adolescents in the location of research where social structure is embodied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the question of what happens to internal linguistic variability in a language contact situation by looking at how first-generation Russian immigrants in Germany use two variants of possessive pronouns (reflexive and non-reflexive) for referencing the subject. To what extent does the frequency of the variants, as well as linguistic constraints on their use, remain the same as in the monolingual variety, or change to converge with the structures of the majority language? A forced choice sentence completion task was conducted with 96 adult monolingual Russian and 96 adult bilingual Russian-German speakers to measure the frequency of both variants and the effect of animacy and referentiality of the possessum. The results reveal an increased frequency of the non-reflexive variant in bilingual Russian, indicating convergence with German. At the same time, bilingual speakers observe the same animacy and referentiality constraints on the possessive choice as monolinguals. The effect of linguistic constraints, however, is smaller than the influence of individual speaker-related variables. Overall, our study indicates that convergence in language contact affects the frequency but not the conditioning of the variants and only in some bilingual individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the variation of the polyfunctional linguistic item also across registers and language contact settings. I present findings from a corpus study using the corpus of the Research Unit Emerging Grammars, RUEG for short (Wiese et al., 2019), which provides comparable, register-differentiated data of bilingual and monolingual speakers of German in Germany and bilingual heritage speakers of German in the US. The data suggest that functional variation of a specific lexical item reflects the use of functional features in specific communicative situations. The data further indicate an impact of the societal status that a language occupies in the larger society (majority vs. heritage language) on the distribution of such functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of studies examining English in Germany have been rather narrow in focus, addressing largely the phenomenon of Anglicisms in the German language. In the late 1980s, however, scholars began looking beyond Anglicisms to consider the broader topic of the English language in the German context. This paper presents a qualitative, macrosociolinguistic profile of English in the largest of the German-speaking countries, and also Europe's most powerful economy, the Federal Republic of Germany. Utilizing Kachru's world Englishes model as a theoretical framework, this study examines the following issues for a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of English in Germany today: the history of contact, the functional range of English, and the attitudes associated with the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article focuses on the concept and nature of language-contact research, with special reference to Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany. Even where the object of language contact research is principally linguistic, it is the sociolinguistics/sociology of language perspective that provides the starting point for an empirical study. It is from these areas that field and research techniques are frequently derived, whether they focus on the social image of the code or subcode, the social meaning of certain linguistic structures, ethnosemantics, or verbal interaction/ethnomethodology. Over the past decade, as of 1984, language-contact research has influenced the formulation and implementation of policies on language use, pluralism, and bilingual and multicultural education in many countries of the world. This has put scholars in this field into a position of social responsibility and narrowed the gap between academic and action research. In the decade to come, the main developments of language policy may be at the international level. New policy models to cope with this will be required which have their foundations in interdisciplinary research but are not nationally specific.

This paper looks first at the value of proper names in language awareness education by demonstrating their role in various fields of linguistics. It then deals with the role of proper names in three different areas of German language education: German as a mother tongue, German as a foreign language, and the multicultural classroom. The study reveals the marginal role of proper names in German language classes, mainly restricted to historical aspects such as the origin of place names or family names, while communicative, pragmatic or cultural aspects are neglected. Consideration of the role of proper names in language education suggests that they lend themselves to a holistic approach, as is the aim in language awareness, for they cover grammar as well as cultural learning or critical language awareness. Proposals are made regarding the teaching of proper names in the context of language awareness education within the German curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2003 and 2008, Germany and the Netherlands have replaced informal interviews with local officials by formalised language and knowledge of society tests ('citizenship tests') to determine whether long-term resident immigrants have sufficiently integrated to become citizens. In this contribution, the questions of why the citizenship tests were introduced and of which effects these tests have produced in Germany and the Netherlands will be answered. By doing so, the author aims to contribute to answering the question of whether language and cultural requirements can be considered liberal, which, as has been claimed, remains an unresolved issue relating to civic integration policies. Scholars disagree on whether citizenship tests can be justified in the liberal model for citizenship. Liberal minimalists oppose the introduction of requirements barring permanent residents from full-fledged citizenship. Liberal nationalists think citizenship tests can be justified in case they encourage the acquisition of competences that play an important role in creating or sustaining a reasonably just society. The author concludes that proponents of introducing citizenship tests have indeed asserted that these tests are required for prospective citizens to be able to develop the competences that play an important role in creating or sustaining a reasonably just society. Far more important explanations for the introduction of citizenship tests can however be sought in the linking of naturalisation policy to integration policy, and in the desire to promote uniformity in the application of the language and integration requirement as a condition for naturalisation. As regards the effects produced by the tests, the author shows that the tests permanently exclude certain categories of immigrants from becoming full-fledged members of society. The conclusion can therefore be drawn that the citizenship tests applied by Germany and the Netherlands cannot be justified in the liberal model for citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed at an analysis of sociolinguistic variables associated with the language acquisition progress between the first and the second test sessions in three follow-up studies with German preschool children. In all three samples, children acquiring German, both Germans and immigrants, were tested twice with validated language tests within a time span of several months. Furthermore, language skills of children were judged by daycare center teachers. The language competence of normally developed test subjects did not change much between two test sessions, whereas children acquiring German under more challenging circumstances were still in the process of active development, mostly due to the daycare center attendance, language courses, and medical therapies. Therefore, contra-intuitively at first sight, the following factors were associated with the quick progress in language development (floor effect): bad school marks for the language competence at the beginning of the daycare attendance, low age at the first test session, not regular attendance of the daycare centers, late contact to the German language, foreign language(s) spoken at home, medical issues, and some other unfavorable language acquisition conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of research has been devoted to explaining immigrants' acquisition of the language of the receiving country. However, less attention has been paid to explaining the acquisition of the heritage language among children of immigrants. The most important determinant for young children is exposure to the language. Language exposure can occur in various contexts, such as within the family, during preschool, through peers or via media. Our empirical analysis therefore explores which of these contexts is most statistically significant for the acquisition of the heritage language among children of Turkish immigrants. Using data from the project Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children, we show that all contexts are important at different age levels but the acquisition of the heritage language is mainly determined by the exposure to it within the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates extraposition, i.e., the occurrence of a non-clausal constituent to the right of the clause-final verbal position, from medieval to modern German. Using a database of subordinate clauses from medieval and early-modern texts, several linguistic and sociolinguistic factors are identified that have a favoring effect on extraposition. These include a tendency for prepositional phrases, focused constituents, and heavy constituents to extrapose. Although extraposition is much less frequent in Modern Standard German, it is subject to largely the same restrictions as in earlier stages of the language. This evidence suggests that the German VP has remained head-final since at least the year 1150. Based on a comparison of similar constructions in English, I argue that extraposition results from rightward adjunction of heavy and focused constituents to VP or IP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heimat is commonly theorized as an entity both co-extensive with the nation and easily describable in terms of its regional peculiarities (Eigenart). To challenge this view, this article turns to sociolinguistic discussions in the press of Sudeten German expellees in the early 1950s. Rather than speaking as experts on local dialects or folklore, these newcomers resorted to Sprachkritik, a widespread postwar public form of sociolinguistic criticism, to fashion Heimat into a prescriptive, normative authority over the High German standard that they found missing in the Federal Republic. Their attacks on the West German parlance focused on inability of its consumerist diminutives to produce a coherent narrative of the period. By suggesting that Heimat's parameters superseded those of the nation, their interventions countered the widespread cliché of inarticulate, rural expellees at the same time as they put Sprachkritik on the map of West Germany's 'miracle years.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a discussion on the new cosmopolitan monolingualism on linguistic citizenship in the 21st century in Germany. It explains that an ideal of cosmopolitan linguistic unity has superseded the multiculturalism debates in 1990s in the country that leads to various forms of performative monolingualism. It also offers descriptive information of performative monolingualism as opposed to one's other heritage languages.

The article focuses on the role of linguistic performances, particularly of non-Standard English (NSE), in the construction of identity in the field of sociolinguistics. It examines the use of Mock NSE by male students at a German-American bilingual school in Berlin, Germany, and how their linguistic performances affect their identities and academic achievements. It discusses the significance of Mock NSE utterances, particularly in constructing one's status as a speaker of Standard English. It notes that the male students' use of Mock NSE has served as a socio-pragmatic device that showed their wish to be identified.

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The main findings from a contact-linguistic case study from 2003 on language attitudes among 16–18-year-old Swedish-speaking Finns (Finland) and Sorbs (Germany) are presented. The former can be regarded as a (in many respects) privileged minority, if a minority at all, while the latter is often classified as a threatened minority. Due to the highly different sociohistorical contexts, many differences between the groups were expected, but also similarities existed. The study is based on a language attitude model in which the minority language is embedded in its specific sociohistorical context. In order to make a comparison feasible, the sociohistorical context is described, using the socioprofile method (literature review, interviews with privileged witnesses, survey, analysis, conclusions/recommendations). The clearest differences between the two groups can be found in the language proficiency and language use in official domains. However, the similarities are more numerous than the differences: the frequent minority language use in private and semi-official domains, majority language preference in official domains, and the importance of the majority language and English in youth culture domains. Further similarities include a strong affinity with and an integrative, but also instrumental, orientation toward the minority language and extremely low affinities with the languages in the neighboring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between language maintenance patterns of Turkish immigrants in two different contexts and their ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions. It appears that mainstream society's attitudes towards the minority groups affect the language maintenance patterns and ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of the ethnic minority. As documented in this study, Turkish immigrants in Australia have low ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions but their language maintenance is as strong as that of Turkish immigrants in Germany, where Turkish appears to have more vitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourses of 'political correctness' ('PC') are (Anglo-)American in origin. But one of the aims of this special issue of Discourse & Society is to explore 'PC' from the perspective of languages other than English and, in this article, we look at the case of German. After providing a brief discursive history of 'political correctness' in Germany, we present an empirical study of 'PC'-related discourses in a corpus of texts gathered from the newspaper Die Welt. The analysis of the data begins with a quantitative survey of German 'PC'- related terms from 1995 to 2000. This is followed by a qualitative analysis of the use of those terms during this period. The article reveals many similarities but also a number of interesting differences between Anglo-American and German discourses of 'political correctness', especially where the themes of national identity and the so-called 'normalization' of German historical consciousness are concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]