Gerglish

English as a Global Lingua FrancaSummer Semester 2006Prof. Dafydd Gibbon

Sabrina Daubenspeck, Andrea Lange, Meike Scholz

Gerglish

More than Handy !

Gerglish Definition:

A hybrid language (interlingua) of the two languages German and English

Based on German grammar, but imports English vocabulary and idioms (although a German equivalent exists – cancel – streichen)

Gerglish vs. Anglicisms Anglicisms are English loan words

or phrases which either have an equivalent or not

team vs. Handy Gerglish is subject to conjugation,

anglicisms are not (e.g: gemailt vs. E-mail )

Where does it come from? To a great extend due to the American

culture: Among younger people the American

culture, expressed through movies, music, sports etc. is seen worthy imitating and advertizing experts use this to their advantage

Adaptation to the current lingua franca English (politics, science, computers...)

How do we use Gerglish? The principle of Gerglish is based on

German grammar, BUT Trend to separate words (Reparatur

Annahme instead of Reparaturannahme) Usage of apostrophe: S‘ Genitive: Sandra‘s (Sandras) Overuse: even the plural often gets one

(many cafe‘s opened)

At the beginning was the “a“ One thing German native speakers

often forget is that English knows more than just one pronunciation of “a“

German: /a/ (Haus, Vater) English is not "phonetic" meaning that

we do not always say a word the same way that we spell it...

Black Got/dog Make Market Muscle Saw

Since it is a non-existing sound in German the /θ / and /ð / (dental fricatives) are difficult to produce for a native German

They often come out as: /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/(labiodental fricatives)

The Darn “th“ One Month - Two Months

Bad to worse - the plural: Fairly easy in American English

(GenAm):

One month (/θ/) – two months (/s/) perfectly fine omitting the “th“

Unfortunately, RP does not know this rule

Maintaining of the “th“ sound – months (/θs/) Germans are aware of the

dangerous /θ/ sound, but still very often the singular and plural sound exactly the same

V and W, as in Winegar and Veek The German language does have

these sounds, but usually uses a different pronunciation

V = /f/ (Vogel, Vater) W = /v/ (Wein, Woche) Confusion in English due to

spelling pronunciation

Probably the hardest to get rid of is turning the /g/ /b/ /d/ endings into a /k/ /p/ /t/ sound

(/hunt/ /taik/)

airbag – airbeck Dog - dock

Final Devoicing

The Kveen is kvik Because words with "qu"

represents /kv/ in German spelling (Quark)

speakers may mistakenly produce the same in English

quick /kvik/ queen /kwi:n/

Advertizing Come in and find out Have a break, have a Kitkat Drive alive Powered by emotion We love to entertain you

BUT

lately large German companies seem to find their way back to the German language

studies have shown that the majority of Germans reacts better to German slogans

Examples Sat1: Powered by emotion – Sat1 zeigt‘s

allen McDonalds: Every time a good time – Ich liebe es C&A: Fashion for living – Preise gut alles

gut

Can you read this?

Nachdem man den Rechner gestiefelt und sich eingemeldet hat, startet man einen Blätterer. Dann geht man auflinie, indem man eine Verbindung zu einem Ruf-bei-Ruf-Anbieter wählt, um dann im Zwischennetz von Heimatseite zu Heimatseite wellenzureiten.

Translation Nachdem man den Computer

gebootet und sich eingeloggt hat, startet man einen Browser. Dann geht man online, indem man eine Connection zu einem Call-By-Call-Provider wählt, um dann im Internet von Homepage zu Homepage zu surfen.

Gerglish Friend or Foe? Does the intrusion of English pose

a threat to the German language? Some may say so: Verein für Deutsche Sprache e.V.

tries to promote clear German in several different campains (“Sprachpanscher des Jahres“)

The institution sees the decay of the German language

The other side of the story Sympathizers of the English

language rather see it as a threat to English as hybrid languages like Gerglish or Franglais pose a danger to alienate English

Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germish

http://www.vds-ev.de/denglisch/

http://andreas-waechter.de/Spass/Denglisch.html

http://www.rosentreters.de/html_seiten/engleutsch.html