Anglicisms in German

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik Note: 17 Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald (Anglistik) Veranstaltung: Lexicology Sprache: Deutsch Abstract: [...] Language contact however is a normal phenomenon and as a historical fact has beenacknowledged since antiquity but not however as a phenomenon worthy of study [ ... ] Butonly in the last decades of the nineteenth century did questions of language contact becomean area of scientific interest (Oksaar 1996; If.) (Svetlana 20). Most of the older studiesfocus on the synchronic aspects whereas newer studies also take a diachronic view intoconsideration (cf. Burmasova 10). Furthermore morphological and orthographic aspectsplay a role in addition of the frequency of use (cf. Burmasova 11).Nowadays there are a lot of critical voices which reject the use of anglicisms because theyfear a loss of German language heritage. There are even some initiatives providingequivalents for every English word. The Verein deutscher Sprache (Association of theGerman Language) for instance emphasizes the importance of German equivalents Thusthe question is whether it is possible to find equivalents for every anglicisms and if thoseequivalents are suitable. Moreover the question arises if anglicisms are on the rise to anextend where they may threaten the German language.In this term paper I want to take a closer look on the use of anglicisms in the press in orderto find an answer to these questions. In the course of this I want to refer to studies byNICOLE PLUMER ALEXANDRA ZURN and CHRISTIANE GOTZELER. I also want to provide somesamples from Stern and Bild and present my own results. Before that a definition of theterm anglicism will be given. Moreover I want to take historical developments intoconsideration including German reactions to certain changes. After that a classification ofanglicisms will be provided in order to become aware of the different types.