Germanic Languages in Contact in Africa, Asia, and Oceania

Riehl, Claudia Maria (2025): Germanic Languages in Contact in Africa, Asia, and Oceania. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.

Abstract

In Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, Germanic languages came into contact with other languages, particularly as a result of colonization and trading activities. In this context, a number of pidgin and creole languages emerged, most of which are English-based . The non-English pidgin and creoles include a few, such as the German-based mixed languages in Namibia (Kiche Duits) and New Guinea (Unserdeutsch) or the already extinct Russenorsk (Norwegian–Russian pidgin language), which was spoken along the Arctic coast.

Germanic languages also came in contact with other languages in numerous settlements of Dutchmen, Germans, and Scandinavians. While the Dutch language in South Africa developed into a standardized language of its own (Afrikaans), German in Namibia has developed a spoken vernacular of German (Namdeutsch) with influence from both English and Afrikaans. German settlements are also found in South Africa, where a contact-induced variety is spoken (Springbok German). In contrast, in former Norwegian settlements in Africa, the language has disappeared. The situation in Central Asia is different: Here, we find many German settlements founded in the late 19th century and intensively populated by the German-speaking population that was expelled from other parts of the Soviet Union in 1941. Mainly in Siberia and Kazakhstan, High German and Low German varieties were spoken that developed into varieties of their own under the growing influence of the Russian language. In contrast, almost no speakers remained from the former Scandinavian and German settlements in Australia and New Zealand, which date back to an organized migration in the middle of the 19th century. The last remaining speakers were found in the German community of the Barossa valley in South Australia.

Language contact in the settlement communities shows common traces: While language contact typically leads to the integration of numerous lexical borrowings in all constellations, meaning transfer from one language to the other occurs primarily in communities where Germanic languages are in contact with each other. This is due to the notable number of cognates, that is, genetically related words, which occasionally take a different meaning in related languages. This also holds for multiword constructions and frame-slot patterns that are composed of cognate lexemes. A typical contact-induced construction in all German–English contact constellations in these areas is the possessive-s construction. Common developments that are, however, not directly induced by language contact, are found in morphology, mainly in the domain of case-marking: Here, German contact varieties show traits of case merger of dative and accusative, albeit at different points of development. Other developments are changes in word order, for example, the replacement of verb-last position in subordinate clauses in German by verb-second word order. Further instances involve contact-induced grammaticalization processes, in which categories that are optional in German—such as the progressive aspect—are further grammaticalized under the influence of a replica language.

• Dokumententyp: Lexikon-Artikel
• Fakultät: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften > Department 1 > Deutsch als Fremdsprache
• Themengebiete: 400 Sprache > 400 Sprache ; 400 Sprache > 410 Linguistik ; 400 Sprache > 430 Deutsch, germanische Sprachen allgemein
• Sprache: Englisch