Structural changes observed in the German language as used in Namibia: A study on the basis of texts from the Allgemeinen Zeitung
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Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
This study titled Structural changes observed in the German language as used in Namibia: A study on the basis of texts from the Allgemeinen Zeitung analyses and examines the structural changes in German Language as it is used in Namibia. The German language found its way to Namibia during the German colonial times (1884 – 1915). After independence in 1990, English became the sole official language of Namibia. Nowadays, Namibia is a multilingual country, in which German, Afrikaans and various other languages constitute the national languages.
Several studies on the German language as used in Namibia have already been conducted, but these only examined the change in the lexis. Therefore, this study concerns itself with the structural changes of the German language in Namibia with regard to semantics, which is the study of meaning and/or syntax, namely the arrangement of words and phrases used. Changes in the German language are taking place in all German-speaking countries, due to globalisation, migration and multilingualism. Heike Wiese concerns herself with the most recent change in the German language in Germany: Kiezdeutsch. This research complements the studies conducted in German speaking countries in Europe. The findings of the study provide evidence that structural change takes place as a result of the influence of English and/or Afrikaans on the German language in Namibia on the grounds of multilingualism. Furthermore, the study aims at creating language awareness within the German-speaking society regarding their mother tongue. The research was conducted through the qualitative research design and is a descriptive empirical study as it described the structural changes and makes use of authentic material of German as it is used in Namibia today. Data collected are articles as well as letters to the editor from the Allgemeine Zeitung. The Namibian German sentences were compared to the standard German sentences of the same meaning. If the sentence was not identical to the standard German sentence, it was compared to the English and Afrikaans sentence, in order to see which of these influenced the structural change
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
Keywords
Structural changes, German language, Allgemeinen Zeitung