Languages in Contact : Language Use in Restaurants in the German City of Grafenwoehr

Titelangaben

Maier, Patricia:
Languages in Contact : Language Use in Restaurants in the German City of Grafenwoehr.
Bayreuth , 2024
(Masterarbeit, 2023 , Universität Bayreuth, Fakultät für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften, Lehrstuhl Englische Sprachwissenschaft)

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Abstract

The German city of Grafenwoehr is outstanding as 80% of its population is of American origin. This deeply influences the linguistic landscape and the languages used in Grafenwoehr’s daily life. As restaurants in Grafenwoehr are typical places where different people and their languages meet, they provide great insights into the written and spoken languages used in a natural language contact environment. By analyzing 1,496 Facebook posts and 23 menus of the 29 restaurants located in Grafenwoehr in autumn 2022, and completing a questionnaire with the restaurant owners, the research project focused on the following key aspects: different languages in spoken and written language use, outcomes of language contact in written language use, use of bi-/multilingualism in written language use and how the languages are separated, factors influencing language choice and therefore language use. The research project revealed a high percentage of language maintenance within the written language use and a relatively increased percentage of German-English bilingualism in a German small town. This shows that the language contact situation between English and German in Grafenwoehr is still at an initial stage. This deduction is also supported by the number of outcomes of language contact (code-switching, borrowing) within the written utterances. The following factors were identified as most influential on language use: location, topic, lifestyle, and the linguistic repertoires of the restaurant owners and the customers. All in all, the thesis allows for significant insights into the language contact situation in Grafenwoehr.