English Influence on German

by: Marthe Stoll

Contents

1. Introduction  3

2 English Influence on German  4

2.1 Language Contact and Linguistic Borrowing 4
2.2 English Influence on German from the 19th Century until Today 6
2.3 Reasons for the Use of Anglicisms 9

2.3.1 Internal Linguistic Factors 10

2.3.1.1 Local Color 10
2.3.1.2 Language Economy 11
2.3.1.3 Style Variation 12
2.3.1.4 Euphemism 12

2.3.2 Extralinguistic Factors 13

3. Common Problems with Anglicisms 14

4. Classification of Lexical and Structural Borrowing 15

4.1 External Borrowings 15
4.2 Internal Borrowings 20

5. Negative Reactions to Anglicisms 22

6. Conclusion 27

7. Sources 28

7.1 Bibliography 28
7.2 Magazines 29
7.3 Internet Sources 29

1. Introduction

After getting up, we use Shampoo and a Peeling under the shower. We rub Anti-Aging-Creme into the skin to pretend to be younger – Beauty is a very important issue in our times –, and we use Makeup to look good at the Meeting that we are going to attend before Lunch to cultivate our professional Connections. Hopefully, nobody did investigate into our Background and found out that our Dad has been a Drogendealer. This would not be very cool. Maybe, we should have made a Crashkurs in “Entertainment for bored Managers” to relax the atmosphere. Nevertheless, we forget about these too stylish men with their Handys. Since we had nothing for breakfast, we go to the Coffeeshop around the corner and buy a Donut and a Muffin. After these too many calories, we start to regret our lack of restraint and self-control. After all, we have a Blinddate for Dinner with a Gentleman we met in the Chatroom when we were online and actually in search of Songs to download them to our Computer. So, to shape our Body, we go to the gym, where we take an Aerobic class and use the Stepper to look sexy in the new Outfit, tight Shorts and a T-Shirt, we bought on our Shopping-Tour. In the evening, we meet in the hip Bar where the Drinks are so delicious and high-proof. The guy is quite okay and after having eaten a few Crackers together, we rent a room, because we are lured by his Aftershave. Unfortunately, this is our Ticket to hell, because after skipping Petting, he does also skip Sex and prefers sleeping: “Fuck, I’m just too drunk. Let us talk tomorrow, Baby”, he announces and falls asleep. No, sorry, but this night needs no Feedback, and so we rush out of the Hotelsuite hoping not to be seen by our Boss who stays occasionally at the same Location with his Lover. This Story is also too embarrassing to tell it to our best friend. At least, now we know that the next time we will go to a Party with people we know instead of experiencing a new Lifestyle that does not satisfy us at all. As seen in this example, we are confronted with English expressions in almost every situation, and it is thus as good as impossible to avoid anglicisms, what we are going to show in the following.

In our term paper Was ich lieb: Ans Mic steppen und fake MCs mit Punchlines dissen, was ich hass’: Standard Battlephrasen und Anglizismen¹ - English influence on German, we will concentrate on the influence of English on German, on the question why we tend to use anglicisms and which problems might occur when using them. Furthermore, we will focus on the classification of the borrowing and finally raise the subject of the negative reactions to anglicisms. A few remarks at the beginning: Since one can hardly distinguish Americanisms from Briticisms – British English is strongly influenced by American English –, we will use the expression anglicism for all the different varieties in this term paper. Moreover, since we found sometimes several English translations of German terms such as ‘äußeres Lehngut’ and ‘Mischkomposita’ according to the different sources, we restrict ourselves to employing only one term per each expression. Another point is that we will neither discuss adaptations of anglicisms concerning phonology, form and morphology, nor will we mention the word formation and the semantic of anglicisms, because this would have been too much for this short term paper.

2. English Influence on German

2.1 Language Contact and Linguistic Borrowing

“Die Gewalt einer Sprache ist nicht, dass sie das Fremde abweist, sondern dass sie es verschlingt.”² (Goethe)

The concept of language contact and linguistic borrowing are not at all new, but they have always been essentially involved with languages and occur “when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact”³. The more isolated a speech community is the more probable it is that its language will develop independently. However, due to the medium of television, video, radio and internet⁴ being spread via satellite transmission, industrialized countries are rather likely to adopt expressions of other languages, so-called borrowings or loanwords⁵. One of the main sources of borrowing is the English language. Such a foreign word or loanword is called anglicism and is a word, phrase or element borrowed from English into another language. The expression anglicism does also describe the “English syntax, grammar, meaning and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption”⁶.

One can state that English has been increasing all over the world. It is especially because of the 18th century, when Britain was the biggest colonial power in the world, that many of the ancient British colonies still have English as official or semi-official language nowadays. Due to the fact that various countries have gotten in touch with the English language and/or culture, this has given rise to direct or indirect influence on their own native languages.⁷ Today, English is a so-called ‘world language’ and the most important language of business, airports and air-traffic control, science and technology, medicines, diplomacy and publicity.⁸

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1 These lyrics are taken from the group Blumentopf and their song ‘Liebe & Hass’. Cf. NoMoreLyrics. Blumentopf Lyrics. http://www.nomorelyrics.net/song/ 169524.html. 2005

2 Junker, Gerhard H. Der Zeitgeist spricht Englisch. in: Zabel, Hermann (Ed.). Denglisch, nein danke! Zur inflationären Verwendung von Anglizismen und Amerikanismen in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Paderborn: IFB Verlag, 2003. 119

3 Wikipedia – The free encyclopedia. Language contact. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language _contact

4 It is important to mention that not only the spoken but also the written contact between different speech communities is a cause for language change.

5 Other forms of language contact, which will not be discussed in this term paper, are bilingualism, language shift and creolisation. Cf. Wikipedia. Language contact.

6 Wikipedia – The free encyclopedia. Anglicism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicism

7 Today, English is the official or semi-official language in over 60 different countries and has a prominent place in further 20 countries. Cf. Weikopf, Otto. Englisch - Neuenglische Periode. http://www.weikopf.de/Sprache/Englisch/Neuenglisch/neuenglisch.html. May 2005

8 Weikopf