UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Venezia, Anne
Dept./Program:
German and Russian
Year:
2012
Degree:
M.A.
Abstract:
The basis of this thesis is thatadvertisements are both an instrument of language contact and a manifestation of societal values. A well-documented phenomenon in the modem German language (post-World War II) is the convention of using Anglicisms in both written and spoken German. This phenomenon has been most pronounced within the domain of commercial advertisements, especially after the reunification of Eastand West Germany. The use of English in German advertisements has been the subject of much public controversy and scholarly research. Linguistic borrowing and code switching in the German language is not a recent occurrence. The traditional view that English is used to express concepts and objects that the German language otherwise cannot express has been shattered by the practice of using Anglicisms that have reliable German equivalents (i.e. City instead of Stadt).
Research has demonstrated that language choice in advertisements is not always dependent upon communicative value, but rather, the intangible cultural and societal values attached to a foreign language. In this thesis, the history of English and German language contact and its linguistic dimensions are presented, as well as the modern-day German societal conceptualizations of English. Attention is also given to the process and goals of advertisements. Moreover, the English language's role within the domain of German advertising is presented and analyzed, with the goal of assessing the current use and trends of Anglicisms in German advertising and then explaining the motivation for the appearance of Anglicisms.
In order to make an assessment, in conjunction with extensive research, Anglicisms in the headlines and slogans of advertisements in the German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel were collected, cataloged, categorized, and calculated for six months of the following years: 1989, 1999 and 2009. Employing a three-decade timespan provided a unique opportunity to measure, assess, and compare the use and scope of Anglicisms in German advertisements. Moreover, this timespan encompasses three crucial societal events: the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic, the boom of the internet, and the rise of globalization. The resulting data corpus demonstrates a steep increase in the use of Anglicisms between 1989 and 1999, while 2009 shows abatement in the use of Anglicisms.
Such a decrease may be associated with recent calls from language purist groups that have become increasingly active in Germany and have publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with the widespread use of Anglicisms in German. The data affirms that English is associated with a concept of success and prosperity, and that it often does not carry a cultural value, in contrast to other foreign languages. Despite the reversal of the trend between 1999 and 2009, Anglicisms are still commonplace in German advertisements, and owing to the generally positive societal view of the English language in Germany, Anglicisms will continue to maintain a presence.
Research has demonstrated that language choice in advertisements is not always dependent upon communicative value, but rather, the intangible cultural and societal values attached to a foreign language. In this thesis, the history of English and German language contact and its linguistic dimensions are presented, as well as the modern-day German societal conceptualizations of English. Attention is also given to the process and goals of advertisements. Moreover, the English language's role within the domain of German advertising is presented and analyzed, with the goal of assessing the current use and trends of Anglicisms in German advertising and then explaining the motivation for the appearance of Anglicisms.
In order to make an assessment, in conjunction with extensive research, Anglicisms in the headlines and slogans of advertisements in the German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel were collected, cataloged, categorized, and calculated for six months of the following years: 1989, 1999 and 2009. Employing a three-decade timespan provided a unique opportunity to measure, assess, and compare the use and scope of Anglicisms in German advertisements. Moreover, this timespan encompasses three crucial societal events: the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic, the boom of the internet, and the rise of globalization. The resulting data corpus demonstrates a steep increase in the use of Anglicisms between 1989 and 1999, while 2009 shows abatement in the use of Anglicisms.
Such a decrease may be associated with recent calls from language purist groups that have become increasingly active in Germany and have publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with the widespread use of Anglicisms in German. The data affirms that English is associated with a concept of success and prosperity, and that it often does not carry a cultural value, in contrast to other foreign languages. Despite the reversal of the trend between 1999 and 2009, Anglicisms are still commonplace in German advertisements, and owing to the generally positive societal view of the English language in Germany, Anglicisms will continue to maintain a presence.