Re: Announcement: New auxlang "Choton"
From: | Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> |
Date: | Thursday, October 7, 2004, 12:07 |
From: Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>
> > >My impression is that you are referring to a feature of
> > >your local dialect, rather than standard Hochdeutsch.
> >
> > It's rather the very opposite. Apparently your local dialect is
> > influenced by English speakers, explaining why you can't hear a
> > difference just like them.
>
> Exqueeze me? How should English speakers influence my
> dialect in Central Europe?
I hesitate to say anything that casts doubt on your general line
of argument, since I agree with you based on my many years of
exposure to Germans and their language. But I must quibble on this
point: Germans seem to be under extremely heavy influence from
English. One can hardly read a single issue of Der Spiegel or read
signs on the street without regularly noticing Anglicisms. This is
not to suggest that these have made Germans change the pronunciation
of their own native vocabularly much, just that they are now borrowing
locutions rapidly.
=========================================================================
Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637
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