The German Language in a Changing Europe [Paperback]

This revised and expanded analysis of the German language takes account of recent sociopolitical changes.This study revises and expands its original analysis of the German language in Language and Society in the German-speaking Countries (CUP, 1984) in the light of the end of the Cold War, German unification, increasing European integration, and the changing images of Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.This study revises and expands its original analysis of the German language in Language and Society in the German-speaking Countries (CUP, 1984) in the light of the end of the Cold War, German unification, increasing European integration, and the changing images of Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.Recent sociopolitical events have profoundly changed the status and functions of German and influenced its usage. In this textbook Michael Clyne revises and expands his original analysis of the German language in Language and Society in the German-Speaking Countries (CUP, 1984) in the light of such changes as the end of the Cold War, German unification, increasing European integration, and the changing self-images of Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg. His wide-ranging exploration shows that the German-speaking countries all have problems or dilemmas concerning nationhood or ethnicity that are language-related and/or language-marked.1. The status of German in contemporary Europe; 2. German as a pluricentric language; 3. German in divided and unified Germany; 4. Language and regionalism in Germany and Austria; 5. Communication patterns; 6. Gender, generation and politics: variation and change in language and discourse; 7. Communication norms and communication barriers; 8. Recent Anglo-American influence. With The German Language in a changing Europe, Michael Clyne has once again produced a most insightful, readable, and, above all, usseful text. ...Clyne's approach...gives the book as a whole its uniqueness and its broad appeal to students and scholars of German languaglÃ9