Forms of address as Cross-Cultural Code-Switching: The case of German and Danish in Higher Education

Both German and Danish have distinct pronouns for addressing communication partners formally and informally (referred to as V for Sie/De and T for du/du). However, their use differs considerably in Germany and Denmark, e. g. in higher education. In Germany, the lecturer and the students use V, in Denmark they use T. Based on the observation that Danish students are very reluctant (and sometimes even opposed) to use V in the classroom in Denmark, this article proposes to consider the use of V and T as a case of Cross-Cultural Code-Switching. It is hypothesized that V causes Cultural Cognitive Dissonance for (young) Danes since V is interpreted as an overt manifestation of power distance in a society which considers itself as egalitarian. Ways to cope with such cognitive dissonance in foreign language teaching are discussed. Furthermore, the article addresses the broader question of when cultural behaviours are supposed to apply and – in particular – what conventions are appropriate in higher education in Denmark when German is the language of instruction: should we use V as in Germany or T as in Denmark? Arguments for both choices are presented and discussed

Intensivierer und epistemische Adverbiale – Zur Geschichte von echt

Adverbials of truth or reality such as really (en.), wirklich (de.), verdaderamente (sp.) are cross-linguistically assumed to be a rich source for intensifiers (degree words) as in: (i) Peter is really nice. The epistemic adverbial is reanalysed as a modifier of a predicative adjective in a syntactically ambiguous sentence as in (i). At the same time the emphasis on the truth of the proposition invites the inference that the property in question is amply present. This view on the emergence of intensifiers from adverbials of truth is challenged by the German intensifier echt ‘really, lit. genuine/real’ as in: (ii) Peter ist echt nett ‘Peter is really nice’. In contemporary German echt is very popular as an intensifier, a proposition modifier, a speech-act modifier and a response particle. However, a diachronic analysis of the use of echt as an adverbial in New High German reveals that the intensifier reading develops much earlier than the reading as a proposition modifier, i.e. an epistemic adverbial. The article offers a discussion of the development of echt which sheds a somewhat different light on the relation between intensifiers and epistemic adverbials, and it suggests a unified analysis of the uses of echt in contemporary German which supports Traugott’s view of grammaticalisation as also encompassing an extension of structural scope

“On thin ice” – Discomfort using Sie among Danish students and teachers of German, and implications for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

The article discusses discomfort with using the polite/formal form of address Sie among students and teachers in German CLIL courses at university level in Denmark. Based on focus group interviews with students and teachers, we show that Danish students and teachers find it awkward to adopt the German Sie when German is the language of instruction in Denmark, typically resulting in pragmatic transfer of the Danish informal norm instead. Adopting a critical pedagogy perspective, we discuss how Sie seems to violate Danish cultural values of egalitarianism, causing cultural cognitive dissonance (CCD) in CLIL learning environments. We show that Danes cope with CCD by rejecting Sie or employing (sometimes quite complex) strategies to avoid direct address altogether. However, our investigation also reveals that CCD is partly locational/situational, and that Danes are less reluctant to use Sie in Germany or towards a native German teacher, suggesting a need to raise awareness about this issue in CLIL-courses and foreign language courses where language and intercultural training is taking place ‘at home’ and possibly with a teacher who is not a native speaker of the language. Finally, we offer some suggestions for attenuating this discomfort by rethinking the way that German polite forms of address are taught, and we make the critical point that a major premise of CLIL teaching - the idea of learning a foreign language ‘on one’s own territory – may give rise to cultural resistance, to which teachers should be alert

Orphans hosted by VP anaphora

Overt VP anaphors like do so, do it and do the same can host a following PP (Culicover & Jackendoff (2005:285–6), Huddleston & Pullum (2002:1533), Miller (2011:5–6), Sobin (2008:150, 155–157)): (1) The House is set to take up the final version of the funding bill tomorrow. The Senate will do the same on Thursday. [COCA] (2) You have jilted two previous fiances and I expect you would do the same to me. [COCA] Using (1) to fix terminology, the ANAPHOR is do the same, the ANTECEDENT is take up the final version of the funding bill, the ORPHAN is on Tuesday, and the CORRELATE is tomorrow. Examples like (2) are of particular interest because the correlate (two previous fiances) is inside the antecedent and, consequently, the orphan and the antecedent must interact to produce the interpretation of the clause containing the anaphor. In order to arrive at the interpretation ‘you would jilt me’, the me of the orphan must take the place of two previous fiances inside the antecedent VP. A superficially similar situation arises with remnants of ellipsis, including pseudogapping (3), sluicing (4), and fragment answers (5). In each case, the interpretation of the ellipsis clause combines part of the antecedent with all or part of the remnant. (3) I wouldn’t say that to my mother, but I would to you. (4) I know he gave the dresser away, but I don’t know to who. (5) Q: Who did he give the dresser to? A: To me

Pragmatik i ordbogen: Hvordan kan fokusadverbiet godt beskrives i en dansk-tysk ordbog?

Eksisterende mono- og bilingvale ordbøger giver ikke nogen tilfredsstillende beskrivelse af fokusadverbiet godt på trods af, at der findes grundige analyser af dette adverbium. Enten optræder adverbiet ikke med en selvstændig leksikalsk indgang, men kun i eksempler for de verber, det kan forekomme sammen med, eller også har det et selvstændigt opslag, men adverbiets kernebetydning bliver ikke helt klar. Og det er svært at beskrive godt: det har en pragmatisk betydning, det opfører sig mest af alt som en kollokation og det lader til at mangle ækvivalenter i målsprog som engelsk og tysk. Artiklen giver et forslag til en leksikalsk beskrivelse af godt i en bilingval ordbog (dansk-tysk) på baggrund af en semantisk og syntaktisk analyse, der udvider de eksisterende analyser af godt, og på baggrund af en undersøgelse af, hvordan godt oversættes i parallelle danske og tyske tekster

Formel Sproganalyse med Lexical-Functional Grammar

[Der findes ikke abstract til denne artikel

Proceedings of the LFG02 Conference

CSLI publication