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Picnick and Sauerkraut: German–English intra-writer variation in script and language (1867–1900)
(2023)
Intra-writer variation is a wide-spread phenomenon that nevertheless has received only limited research attention so far. Different addressees, bi- and multilingualism, or changing life phases are among the factors that contribute to such variation. In a study of diary entries by one writer covering three decades (1867–1900), this chapter investigates patterns of intra-writer variation between German and English (language and script) in nineteenth-century Canada, with a special focus on single word borrowings, person reference and place names. The long-term perspective provides a unique insight into the dynamics of a bilingual writer’s emerging sociolinguistic competence as reflected by the flexible yet structured use of his resources within the social space of a bilingual community.
An interactive, dynamic electronic dictionary aimed at text production should guide the user in innovative ways, especially in respect of difficult, complicated or confusing issues. This paper proposes a design for bilingual dictionaries intended to guide users in text production; we focus on complex phenomena of the interaction between lexis and grammar. It will be argued that a dictionary aimed at guiding the user in lexical selection should implement a type of “decision algorithm”. In addition, it should flag incorrect solutions and should warn against possible wrong generalisations of (foreign) language learners. Our proposals will be illustrated with examples from several languages, as the design principles are generally applicable. The copulative construction which is regarded as the most complicated grammatical structure in Northern Sotho will be analyzed in more detail and presented as a case in point.
Heranwachsen in einem noch fremden Land: Die Studie beruht auf einer mehr als 20 Jahre umfassenden Langzeiterhebung in russlanddeutschen Familien mit insgesamt 16 Kindern. Schwerpunkt der Beobachtungen und Interviews war die jeweilige Situation der Kinder innerhalb und außerhalb der Familie. Wie veränderte sie sich aus der Sicht der Kinder und ihrer Angehörigen über die Jahre ab der Ankunft in Deutschland bis zum Übergang ins Berufsleben? Welche Bilanz ziehen die nunmehr jungen Erwachsenen ein Vierteljahrhundert nach ihrer Ankunft?
Die Autorinnen ordnen die individuellen Bilanzen in die internationale Migrations- und Integrationsforschung ein. Die deutsch-russische Zweisprachigkeit als Kern der Mehrsprachigkeit der StudienteilnehmerInnen wird in ihrer Beschaffenheit durch Diskursanalysen und deutschsprachige C-Tests beschrieben und zu den Deutschqualifikationen junger Erwachsener ohne Migrationshintergrund ins Verhältnis gesetzt. Die sprachlichen Qualifikationen erfahren so die ihnen gebührende Aufmerksamkeit. Sie sind Bedingung und Folge gesellschaftlicher Zugehörigkeit.
In this paper we investigate the problem of grammar inference from a different perspective. The common approach is to try to infer a grammar directly from example sentences, which either requires a large training set or suffers from bad accuracy. We instead view it as a problem of grammar restriction or sub-grammar extraction. We start from a large-scale resource grammar and a small number of examples, and find a sub-grammar that still covers all the examples. To do this we formulate the problem as a constraint satisfaction problem, and use an existing constraint solver to find the optimal grammar. We have made experiments with English, Finnish, German, Swedish and Spanish, which show that 10–20 examples are often sufficient to learn an interesting domain grammar. Possible applications include computer-assisted language learning, domain-specific dialogue systems, computer games, Q/A-systems, and others.
The German e-dictionary documenting confusables Paronyme – Dynamisch im Kontrast contains lexemes which are similar in sound, spelling and/or meaning, e.g. autoritär/autoritativ, innovativ/innovatorisch. These can cause uncertainty as to their appropriate use. The monolingual guide could be easily expanded to become a multilingual platform for commonly confused items by incorporating language modules. The value of this visionary resource is manifold. Firstly, e-dictionaries of confusables have not yet been compiled for most European languages; consequently, the German resource could serve as a model of practice. Secondly, it would be able to explain the usage of false friends. Thirdly, cognates and loan word equivalents would be offered for simultaneous consultation. Fourthly, users could find out whether, for example, a German pair is semantically equivalent to a pair in another language. Finally, it would inform users about cases where a pair of semantically similar words in one language has only one lexical counterpart in another language. This paper is an appeal for visionary projects and collaborative enterprises. I will outline the dictionary’s layout and contents as shown by its contrastive entries. I will demonstrate potential additions, which would make it possible to build up a large platform for easily misused words in different languages.
Le bilinguisme en Moselle-Est. Un projet de documentation linguistique de la situation actuelle.
(2020)
Qui parle aujourd'hui quelle langue avec qui et à quelle occasion? Quelles idées les habitants de la Moselle germanophone associent-ils aux dialectes et aux langues? Comment le Platt lorrain est-il transmis? à quoi cela ressemble-t-il dans les différents coins de la Moselle ? Pour répondre à ces questions, le Leibniz- Institut für Deutsche Sprache (IDS) a lancé un projet de documentation sonore pour la recherche linguistique.