Deutsche Sprache im Ausland
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The modernization of society and changing norms are reflected in linguistic developments. This leads to an enlargement of vocabulary as well as to the emergence of new ways of linguistic acting. In grammar, in addition to longer-term developments, the current changes in the media situation play an important role.
In the first part of the article, the situation of Germans in Russia will be put into the context of discussions about linguistic enclaves, minorities and linguistic identity in situations of language contact. The second part will focus on the effects of events related to the Second World War on the language development of the Germans in the former Soviet Union. Unlike the slow language change typical for many minorities, the Germans went through an abrupt, extensive decrease in the knowledge and use of the German language. The singular experience of loss and the corresponding impression on this minority left traces that are particularly noticeable among Russian Germans who have immigrated to Germany. After describing the historical status of German, the article turns to the current situation of the German minority in Russia. It then addresses German native-language instruction in Russia questioning finally whether it might be worthwhile to take into account the fact that the traditional form of German language used in Russia has elements of lower German (“niederdeutsche”), Hessian and other dialects. This could serve to emphasize the particularities of their own language tradition.
In South Tyrol the Italian and German languages have coexisted for centuries. After a problematic development in the first half of the 20th century the situation has stabilised through an intense programme to protect the German-speaking minority living there. Though these protective measures were introduced primarily to keep the linguistic identity of the Italian and German language groups stable, they have led to a considerable degree of individual bilingualism, especially with the speakers of German. At the same time certain means were introduced to facilitate the use of German in the legal and administrative context of Italy. So these steps at the end have led to an intensified contact between the languages, and there is a growing awareness of the advantages of speaking more than one language. With the opening towards Europe and with general trends in society like globalisation and individualisation, a new model of a bilingual identity is developing which takes into consideration its usefulness in modem transcultural interaction as well as its value for regional self-identification. This development also leads to a higher degree of linguistic variation in the society of South Tyrol.
Sprachinseln scheinen eine typische Form des Vorkommens des Deutschen außerhalb seines zusammenhängenden Verbreitungsgebietes zu sein. Als Sprachinseln gelten Gemeinschaften, die sich in vorstandardlichen und vornationalen Zeiten aus diesem Gebiet gelöst, aber eine attitudinale Rückbindung an die Herkunftskultur behalten haben. Diese Rückbindung sichert den Erhalt genetisch als deutsch anzusehender Varietäten in fremdsprachiger Umgebung. Wenn man den heutigen standardsprachlichen Zustand des Deutschen als Bezugspunkt für Form und Verwendung der Inselvarietäten nimmt, muß man genauer differenzieren, was bei ihnen „deutsch” heißt und sieht, daß diese Zuordnung nicht die zentrale Rolle spielt, die der Terminus Sprachinsel suggeriert.