Programm 79. StuTS

The German nation has been shaped by the idea that the state of the standard language is indicative of the state of national identity. I explore how Kiezdeutsch (lit. ‘hood German’), a multiethnic youth variety spoken in Germany’s urban areas, is seen as a threat to this space. Using online data, which contains expressions of linguistic attitudes towards Kiezdeutsch, it examines the structure of a prevalent ideology: The idea that Kiezdeutsch is causing decay of the German standard language and that its speakers are causing decay of the German nation.
Through the corpus analysis, three layers of this ideology emerged. The first is the construal of Kiezdeutsch and its speakers as immigrants from spaces culturally different to Germany. The second layer builds on this: Because the linguistic variety and its speakers have been portrayed as foreigners, they can now be depicted as taking away space from the German standard and the German national identity. Through this, a third layer emerges, which is seen as the consequence of this linguistic and cultural space being taken away. The standard language and national identity decaying as they become the minority in what is perceived to be their rightful space.
The analysis shows how exclusionary and racist ideologies do not operate in isolation but rather build on each other. Not only do these three layers show how German nation building goes hand-in-hand with racialised – and racist – processes of group construction, but they also demonstrate how standard language ideologies are inseparable from beliefs about the German nation. I believe that examining how extremist ideologies operates is the first crucial step to combatting them.

This is a paper I wrote for a class at Leiden University.

Info

Tag: 16.05.2026
Anfangszeit: 14:30
Dauer: 00:30
Raum: DOR 24 1.401
Track: Sociolinguistics
Sprache: en

Links:

• iCalendar