This paper describes the corpus Deutsch in Namibia (DNam, 'German in Namibia'), which will be openly accessible via the Datenbank für Gesprochenes Deutsch (DGD, 'Database for Spoken German'). This corpus is a new digital resource that... more
This paper describes the corpus Deutsch in Namibia (DNam, 'German in Namibia'), which will be openly accessible via the Datenbank für Gesprochenes Deutsch (DGD, 'Database for Spoken German'). This corpus is a new digital resource that comprehensively and systematically documents the language use of the German-speaking minority in Namibia and related language attitudes. We discuss data collection and elicitation methods (conversation groups, "language situations", semi-structured interviews), data processing including transcription, normalisation and tagging, general corpus characteristics available (size, available metadata etc.) and some basic functionalities within the DGD. First research results based on this new empirical resource illustrate its value for studies on language contact, variation and sociolinguistics.
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This chapter presents a quantitative corpus study of informal speech from male and female adolescent and adult Namibians with L1 German. A key feature of Namibian German is various forms of language mixing, mostly with material from... more
This chapter presents a quantitative corpus study of informal speech from male and female adolescent and adult Namibians with L1 German. A key feature of Namibian German is various forms of language mixing, mostly with material from English and Afrikaans. Previous sociolinguistic research, as well as statements by community members, suggest that male speakers might use more other-language material in their speech. I identified other-language material in a corpus of peer group conversations by Namibian German adolescents and adults and investigated the amount of transferred lexical items (other-language material excluding multi-word code-switches) that speakers of different age and gender used. Furthermore, I analyzed the proportion of the donor languages English and Afrikaans. Concerning the frequency of transferred lexical items, the results show an age difference between younger and older speakers, but fewer clear differences between speakers of different gender. English is the prime donor language in all groups, but subtle differences in the proportion of Afrikaans may point to interesting sociolinguistic dynamics.
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English Abstract Namibian German has an interesting status among German contact varieties outside Europe. It has its roots in colonisation, but is used by a speech community with German ancestry who live in Namibia today, which... more
English Abstract
Namibian German has an interesting status among German contact varieties outside Europe. It has its roots in colonisation, but is used by a speech community with German ancestry who live in Namibia today, which distinguishes it from typical (post-)colonial varieties, and makes it more similar to " language island " varieties of German. However, unlike either of these types – and more similar to the situation within Europe than those – German in Namibia is linguistically vital, it is acquired by children, and also used in public domains. This means that we find not only a number of interesting contact phenomena, but also systematic register differentiation. In our paper, we compare language use in informal and formal settings, address the status of informal vernaculars in speakers' broader linguistic repertoires, and discuss how standard language ideologies pan out in this setting where German is not the national majority language, and how they interact with markers of local, Namibian identity.
Namibian German has an interesting status among German contact varieties outside Europe. It has its roots in colonisation, but is used by a speech community with German ancestry who live in Namibia today, which distinguishes it from typical (post-)colonial varieties, and makes it more similar to " language island " varieties of German. However, unlike either of these types – and more similar to the situation within Europe than those – German in Namibia is linguistically vital, it is acquired by children, and also used in public domains. This means that we find not only a number of interesting contact phenomena, but also systematic register differentiation. In our paper, we compare language use in informal and formal settings, address the status of informal vernaculars in speakers' broader linguistic repertoires, and discuss how standard language ideologies pan out in this setting where German is not the national majority language, and how they interact with markers of local, Namibian identity.