Anglicisms in German

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Note: 1,7, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald (Anglistik), Veranstaltung: Lexicology, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: [...] Language contact, however, is a normal phenomenon and "as a historical fact has been acknowledged since antiquity, but not, however, as a phenomenon worthy of study [ ... ] But only in the last decades of the nineteenth century did questions of language contact become an area of scientific interest (Oksaar 1996; If.)" (Svetlana, 20). Most of the older studies focus on the synchronic aspects whereas newer studies also take a diachronic view into consideration (cf. Burmasova, 10). Furthermore, morphological and orthographic aspects play a role in addition of the frequency of use (cf. Burmasova, 11). Nowadays, there are a lot of critical voices which reject the use of anglicisms because they fear a loss of German language heritage. There are even some initiatives providing equivalents for every English word. The Verein deutscher Sprache (Association of the German Language), for instance, emphasizes the importance of German equivalents Thus, the question is whether it is possible to find equivalents for every anglicisms and if those equivalents are suitable. Moreover, the question arises if anglicisms are on the rise to an extend where they may threaten the German language. In this term paper, I want to take a closer look on the use of anglicisms in the press in order to find an answer to these questions. In the course of this, I want to refer to studies by NICOLE PLUMER, ALEXANDRA ZURN and CHRISTIANE GOTZELER. I also want to provide some samples from Stern and Bild and present my own results. Before that, a definition of the term anglicism will be given. Moreover, I want to take historical developments into consideration, including German reactions to certain changes. After that, a classification of anglicisms wil