The following paper is a research on the quantitative use of Anglicisms in two German magazines. The analysis will feature a selection of two issues of the German Cosmopolitan and Spiegel from December 2015. I chose these magazines because this type of material has not been considered in studies yet. There are many researches about the usage of Anglicisms in Spiegel over the years, or the integration of Anglicisms in advertisements found in magazines. As there is a gap of statistics including the comparison of the number of Anglicisms in a news magazine and a lifestyle magazine, I chose it to become the topic of this seminar paper. Further, this paper will analyze the usage of Anglicisms and their percentage distribution with regard to the different word classes.
First, I will give a comprehensive overview over Thomason (2001) and Winford’s (2003, 2010) theories of language contact and borrowing. Following that, I will give some definitions concerning linguistic jargon and give samples of how Anglicisms are integrated into the German morphological and inflectional pattern. The main part of this paper will be the evaluation of the data I collected and the comparison of the quantitative impact of Anglicisms in Cosmopolitan and Spiegel. I conclude with a closer examination of the compounds found in the two magazines.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Part
2.1. Definition of language contact
2.2. Definition of borrowing
2.3. Defining and Integrating loanwords
2.3.1. Nouns
2.3.2. Adjectives
2.3.3. Verbs
2.3.4. Compounds and Phrases
3. Methodology
4. Practical Part
4.1. Quantitive impact of anglicisms
4.1.1. Cosmopolitan
4.1.2. Spiegel
4.1.3. Comparison
4.2. Analysis of Compounds
4.2.1. Cosmopolitan
4.2.2. Spiegel
4.2.3. Comparison
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
Research Objectives and Themes
This study aims to provide a quantitative analysis of the usage and distribution of anglicisms in two distinct German magazines, Cosmopolitan and Der Spiegel, to identify patterns of lexical borrowing and potential stylistic differences between lifestyle and news media.
- Quantitative distribution of anglicisms across different word classes.
- Comparative analysis of borrowing patterns in lifestyle versus news magazines.
- Morphological integration of English loanwords into the German language.
- Examination of compound structures and phrases as a form of lexical borrowing.
- Validation of Muysken’s "hierarchy of borrowability" through empirical data.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1. Definition of language contact
Due to many similarities between languages having the same starting point or differences between dialects in e.g. German, it is confirmed that languages have always been changing. English went through a huge changing progress because of the intense contact with French and Latin particularly in the Middle English period (1150 to 1500). After the Normans had conquered England their mother tongue French had a huge impact on the English language. This impact ist still visible today. Words like government, royal, apartment or chef originally derived from French but are nowadays basic vocabulary in English. The clash of French and English during the Middle English period is a typical example for the linguistic term language contact.
Thomason (2001) defines language contact in the simplest way as “[…] the use of more than one language in the same place at the same time” (p.1). According to linguistic studies this definition is too trivial. Defining a contact as language contact, a group of speakers have to use one or more language that none of the other group they talk to understands. “Speakers of different regions, social classes, and generations use language differently (dialect variation), and all speakers use language differently in different situations (register variation)” (Fasold & Connor-Linton, 2014, p. 289). But what exactly is a language?
Defining language seems to be easy at the first glance. But considering following examples it gets more complicated: Swabians and people from Berlin both speak German. Still, talking to each other they have huge understanding problems according to their dialectical variation within their mother tongue German. They sound very different as well. But still they both speak ‘the same’ language. Spanish and Italian speakers though can understand each other fairly well; even though they both speak different languages. Finding an appropriate definition for language seems to be very tricky. Therefore linguists differentiate between language contact and dialectical contact. But as it would exceed the purpose of this paper the definition from the Oxford Online Dictionary will be sufficient: “ ‘language’: 1a: The system of spoken or written communication used by a particular country, people, community etc., typically consisting of words used within a regular grammatical and syntactical structure” (Oxford English Dictionary Online, n.d.).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the research focus on quantifying anglicisms in German magazines and outlines the paper's theoretical and methodological approach.
2. Theoretical Part: Establishes definitions for language contact and borrowing, and discusses the integration of loanwords within morphological patterns.
3. Methodology: Describes the selection process for the magazines Cosmopolitan and Der Spiegel and the criteria used for categorizing collected anglicisms.
4. Practical Part: Analyzes the gathered data, comparing the quantitative use of anglicisms across word classes and compound structures in both magazines.
5. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings, noting that Cosmopolitan makes more frequent use of anglicisms compared to the formal style of Der Spiegel.
6. Bibliography: Lists the academic sources and references utilized throughout the research paper.
Keywords
Anglicisms, Lexical Borrowing, Language Contact, Morphology, Loanwords, Cosmopolitan, Der Spiegel, Quantitative Analysis, Word Classes, Compounds, Linguistic Influence, Borrowability, Lifestyle Magazine, News Magazine, German Language.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper examines the quantitative usage of anglicisms in two different German magazines—the lifestyle magazine Cosmopolitan and the news magazine Der Spiegel—to understand how English expressions are integrated into German text.
What are the central themes discussed in the paper?
Key themes include the definition of language contact, the processes of lexical borrowing, morphological adaptation of loanwords, and a comparative analysis of how different media types utilize English terms.
What is the primary goal of the study?
The primary goal is to provide empirical data on the frequency and percentage distribution of anglicisms across different word classes, such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, and compounds, in distinct journalistic contexts.
Which scientific methods were employed?
The author conducted a manual content analysis of selected issues from December 2015, categorizing borrowed items by word class and analyzing their structure according to linguistic theories by researchers like Thomason, Winford, and Muysken.
What content is covered in the main section?
The main section covers the theoretical framework of borrowing, a detailed methodology of the data collection, and a practical evaluation with comparative charts and tables illustrating the prevalence of specific anglicisms in both publications.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Major keywords include Anglicisms, Lexical Borrowing, Language Contact, Morphology, Comparative Analysis, and the specific titles Cosmopolitan and Der Spiegel.
How do borrowing patterns differ between Cosmopolitan and Der Spiegel?
The study found that Cosmopolitan uses a higher volume of anglicisms to create an informal tone, whereas Der Spiegel, being more formal, restricts their use, often favoring nominalized structures.
What did the analysis of compound words reveal?
The analysis revealed that lifestyle magazines like Cosmopolitan tend to create more complex compounds with more than three elements compared to news magazines, which show a different distribution of hybrid compound types.
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- Anica Wurmbrand (Autor), 2016, Anglicisms in the German "Cosmopolitan" and in the German news magazine "Der Spiegel". A quantitive survey of lexical borrowing in the German language, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/371039
