On foreign words and adaptation of language
With globalization, English has become the lingua franca in many contexts including international business. In German too, English words have found their way into the language. But when it comes to grammar, most adaptations are part of the language itself according to a linguistic study carried out at the University of Mainz.
Samples of German signs in Namibia. Collage of photos from Windhoek, Outjo, Swakopmund and Lüderitz, Photo (cc) flickr user Bluemars
The influences are easy to see in everyday terms. People talk about their Adventure UrlaubUrlaub
With the summer (adventure holiday) for example or having a meeting rather than a BesprechungBesprechung
die Besprechung, -en: Treffen (oft in der Arbeit), um etwas zu besprechen.
Although the added –s to words as in the cases of UnisUnis
die Uni, -s: Kurz für "Universität", Studis, CDs and Pkws may seem like another Anglicization of the German language, it’s not, according to Damaris Nübling, professor in the German Department at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
"The Anglo-American influence has certainly increased since the Second World War," confirms Nübling, athough he says that the –s plural marker is not part of this process, but rather German in origin.
"The -s plural first appeared with names like the Müllers and the Schmidts, i.e. the Müller and the Schmidt families, long before we Germans started to borrow English words," explains Nübling. The title of Thomas Mann’s first novel Buddenbrooks published in 1901 was not borrowed from the English for example.
Nübling’s historical research has found the –s ending as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries in use with surnames and place names. Its roots are the German –s genitive suffix as in Müllers Familie or Meiers Leute.
Over time, the meaning of the –s suffix shifted from the genitive singular into the plural –s. An abbreviated form des Müllers Leute sind hier (the Müllers are here) is still heard spoken today in some southern German dialects.
According to Nübling, "The reason behind the usage is to prevent the name itself from being distorted. A name should change as little as possible." This is most easily done using the -s suffix as the name remains and is not distorted as it would be with other German suffixes.
The –s plural marker also makes it easier to recognize the word’s orignal form, maintaining its structure. Examples include: UnisUnis
die Uni, -s: Kurz für "Universität" (universities), Studis (students), Limos (soft drinks) and CDs. This similarly applies to onomatopoetic words in German like Kuckucks (cuckoos) and Kikerikis (cock-a-doodle-doos), to nominalizations in German such as Aufs und Abs (ups and downs), Wenns und Abers (ifs and buts), as well as to non-Germanic words common to the language such as Pizzas and Kontos (accounts). Once a word is more recognizable, the plural -s suffix is replaced by the more common -en suffix as with Pizzen and Konten.
"The -s plural is genuinely German. It does not have its origins in the English language and is not being reimported," concludes Nübling who argues that the German language tends more toward integrating foreign words in their entirety, rather than single grammatical elements. "There is a need for English expressions, but their influence on the German language is generally overestimated."
