Asymmetrische Plurizentrizität und Sprachbewusstsein

Translated title of the contribution: Asymmetric pluricentricity and language awareness: The Swiss Germans' attitudes towards standard German

Joachim Scharloth*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The paper examines the language attitudes in non-dominating language communities of pluricentric languages. It asks in what way the fact of being a speaker of a non-dominating language community influences the perception of the own competence and of the evaluation of the different standard varieties of the pluricentric language. By examining the attitudes towards Swiss Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland it argues that speakers of non-dominating language communities often have the notion that their own standard variety being deficient combined with a feeling of lingual inferiority towards the speakers of the dominating community. Thus, the standard variety of the dominating community serves as a prestigious variety. In Switzerland these attitudes strongly correlate with the age of the acquisition of Standard German and the negative attitudes towards Germans. Finally the paper raises the question whether the concept of pluricentricity can adequately be used when there ist no awareness of pluricentricity among the speakers. The data presented derives from two empirical studies conducted in Switzerland in the summer of 2003: a survey on language attitudes and a subjective evaluation test.

Translated title of the contributionAsymmetric pluricentricity and language awareness: The Swiss Germans' attitudes towards standard German
Original languageGerman
Pages (from-to)236-267
Number of pages32
JournalZeitschrift fur Germanistische Linguistik
Volume33
Issue number2-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006 Jun 20
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Linguistics and Language

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