ABSTRACT:
Concomitant with the rapid progress in information technology, rising levels of education, and an ideological shift towards globalization, the English language has turned into a major catalyst of language change in a variety of language-cultural areas. For the German language the impact of English has led to ample documentation (cf. among others Allenbacher 1999, Carstensen and Busse 1993, 1994, 1996, Glahn 2002, Görlach 2002, Plümer 2000, Viereck 1996, Yang 1990) and to controversy in how far German is endangered of being undermined by the use of English (cf. Gardt and Hüppauf 2004, Kettemann and Muhr 2002). The focus of research so far has centered on the lexical level (borrowing, interference, and loan translation) and on covert syntactic influences, i.e. loan syntax (cf. Carstensen 1965, Schelper 1995). This paper expands the current focus of research onto an as yet sparsely investigated phenomenon: the occurrence of English code-switches in German journalistic writing. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel of the year 2000 yields a substantial amount of English syntactic units, which are embedded as inter- and intra-sentential code-switches in German texts. The occurrence of code-switches gives rise to a variety of questions: What is the function of code-switching in German journalistic writings? Which types of code-switches are particularly frequent? How do code-switches blend into the structure of German texts and do they bear repercussions on the structural integrity of German? Are there structural, contextual, and semantic constraints that regulate the occurrence of written code-switches? By discussing examples of code-switches in Der Spiegel (2000), the study investigates this set of interrelated questions. Special emphasis is placed on the types and functions of code-switches, which involve their use as mottos and key phrases, as quotations, as lexicalized catch phrases, and as Germanized versions of English ("Filser Englisch").
Data:
Narkosen müssten abgebrochen werden, sobald etwas Zweifelhaftes auftauche: "If in doubt, take it out." (5/58)
Unter dem Motto "Music is the only drug" feiern rund 60 000 Raver beim "Union Move" in München. (5/249)
Aber bekanntlich ist der Rückweg vom "Du" zum "Sie" nur wenigen gelungen. So let's play it again: Du, ihr da, Genossen! Wir haben Fehler gemacht. (21/34)
SPIEGEL: Was war der Kündigungsgrund? Naumann: It's time for a change, nach zwei Jahrzehnten. (24/202)
...warum die Autorin Berg derzeit als eine Art Übermutter der so genannten Pop-Literatur verehrt wird: It's only Entertainment, aber herzzerreißend ist es auch. (44/283)
Wie soll er dem Credo "form follows function" gerecht werden? (38/154) ...und wendeten damit gleichsam dialektisch alten Horror in neue Vision von Liebe und Verständnis. All you need is love. Sicher. (46/153)
Aber da ist noch Janine: Sie wünscht sich "the same procedure as every year": Schatzsuche und Topfschlagen. (33/109)
Sie sind unerlässlich "to bring out the vote": Damit die Demokraten am 7. November überhaupt die Wahlkabinen aufsuchen. (44/206)
