The subject of English influencing the German language has become more and more obvious in the last decades, particularly in the last few years. The Deutsche Bahn (DB) is a very graphic example for this language fashion. You buy your “Tickets” there at the “Counter” next to the “Service Point” and after you have taken the “City Night Liner”, you can rent a bike from the “Call a Bike” program after having made a short rest in the “DB Lounge”. But there occurred a lot of misunderstandings because of the new short term parking lots in front of railroad stations called “Kiss&Ride” in January 2010. So the chairman of the DB Rüdiger Grube finally decided to reduce the amount of anglicisms at the DB in February 2010. “Counters” turned again into “Schalter”, “Tickets” into “Fahrkarten”, “Call a Bike” is now called “Mietradservice der Deutschen Bahn” again, only established and well known terms like “Bahncard” and “Intercity” stayed the same.
Thus, English has obviously a huge bearing on the German language, especially in the field of facilities and advertising and, above all, on youth language. You would definitely find a lot of anglicisms in youth literature, youth magazines or youth series on TV. You only have to glance at the cover of the BRAVO: headings like “Coole Ansage an seine Hater”, “Neues Game: Star-Memory”, “Romantische Dates” or “Kuscheln im Tourbus” are not a rarity. But how does this phenomenon look for example in German highbrow newsmagazines with the average German newsmagazine readership?
To find this out, I have chosen two very popular German newsmagazines, the FOCUS and Der Spiegel since the two of them represent pretty much the German highbrow newsmagazines. I was interested in the question whether these two magazines also represent the mainstream fashion of using many anglicisms in their articles or not. As there have already been a couple of studies on this topic, especially concerning anglicisms in Der Spiegel, there is also enough comparative data to refer to. The latest work, Alexander Onysko’s “Anglicisms in German”, about anglicisms in Der Spiegel was published in 2007, so it’s really interesting to compare the results of this study with the data of this book to see possible changes or similarities.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Anglicisms in the German Language
- Design of the Present Study
- Aim
- Study Material
- Method
- Comparison of Anglicisms in Der Spiegel and the FOCUS
- Quantity
- Word-Classes
- Adjectives and Adverbial Phrases
- Verbs
- Nouns
- Types of word formation
- Compounds
- Initialisms
- Types of word formation
- Context
- Summary
- References
- Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources
- Internet Sources
- Appendix
- List of All Anglicisms (FOCUS+ Der Spiegel), ordered by frequency
- Anglicisms in the FOCUS
- Anglicisms in Der Spiegel
- Compounds
- Initialisms
- Anglicisms in the FOCUS and Der Spiegel, ordered by categories
- Comparison of Anglicisms in Der Spiegel and the FOCUS (chart)
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This study aims to investigate the prevalence of anglicisms in two prominent German newsmagazines, FOCUS and Der Spiegel. By analyzing five issues of each magazine, the study aims to determine the quantity, word classes, and context of anglicisms, comparing the results to existing research on anglicisms in German media.- Prevalence of Anglicisms in German Highbrow Newsmagazines
- Frequency and Distribution of Anglicisms Across Word Classes
- Contextual Use of Anglicisms in Front-Page Articles
- Comparison of Anglicisms Between FOCUS and Der Spiegel
- Possible Changes or Similarities in Anglicism Use Compared to Previous Research
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The study begins by examining the growing influence of English on the German language, particularly in recent decades. The author provides illustrative examples from various sectors, including the Deutsche Bahn, youth magazines, and youth literature. The study focuses on the use of anglicisms in highbrow newsmagazines, specifically FOCUS and Der Spiegel, and seeks to determine whether they reflect the general trend of increased anglicism usage. The study's design is based on previous research on anglicisms in German, specifically A. Onysko's "Anglicisms in German," published in 2007. The author outlines the inclusion criteria for anglicisms in the study, excluding marginal groups such as words with ambiguous etymology, phonologically adapted words, and internationalisms of Latin and Greek origin. Brand names, proper names, and code-switching are also excluded. The study includes English words that have not yet been assimilated into the German language and are not found in German dictionaries. The study's aim is to quantify the number of anglicisms found in five issues of each newsmagazine, focusing on front-page articles. The hypothesis is that there will not be a high number of anglicisms, due to the German highbrow press's tendency to avoid excessive anglicism use. The study will compare the frequency of anglicisms in the two magazines, drawing on previous research by A. Zürn, who found no significant quantitative differences in anglicism usage between FOCUS, Der Spiegel, and profil. However, the study acknowledges that its limited scope, examining only five issues and front-page articles, could reveal a marginal or significant difference. The study material consists of front-page articles from five issues of FOCUS and five issues of Der Spiegel. The study specifies the issues used and the number of pages analyzed. Der Spiegel articles are categorized into Economy, Science-Technology, Politics, and Lifestyle, while FOCUS articles are categorized into Lifestyle and Politics. The method for identifying anglicisms involves carefully reading each article and creating lists of anglicisms found, sorted alphabetically for each article. A consolidated list of anglicisms from both magazines is then compiled. Anglicisms are further verified using four different dictionaries to determine their status in the German language.Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The study focuses on the key concepts of anglicisms, German language, newsmagazines, FOCUS, Der Spiegel, frequency, word classes, context, and comparison. The study explores the prevalence and distribution of anglicisms in these German newsmagazines, analyzing their quantity, word classes, and contextual use. The study further aims to compare the findings with existing research on anglicisms in German media, specifically focusing on previous studies by A. Onysko and A. Zürn.- Quote paper
- Bakkalaureus (B.A.) Katharina Hirmer (Author), 2011, Anglicisms in the German Newsmagazines "FOCUS" and "Der Spiegel", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/199864
