This book offers a broad survey of issues relating to the German language in Switzerland. The initial focus is on the German-speaking community's relationship with the French, Italian and Romansh language communities. Consideration is then given to the complex issue of diglossia within the germaphone Swiss community, and the maintenance of both the Swiss German dialects and the Swiss German standard language as co-existent codes of equal status. The Swiss German dialects, the Swiss variety of standard German, and the influence of various foreign languages on both of these language forms are described in some detail. Finally, sociolinguistic issues affecting the German language in Switzerland are considered: the connection between social variation and linguistic change; language variation stemming from differences of age, sex and ethnic origin; and linguistic behaviour and phatic communication.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Verlag Peter Lang
ISBN-10
3906757684
ISBN-13
9783906757681
eBay Product ID (ePID)
107850404
Product Key Features
Author
Felicity J. Rash
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Linguistics
Type
Textbook
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
Pieterlen
Issn
1422-1454
Series Part/Volume Number
V. 3
Series Title
German Linguistic and Cultural Studies
Content Note
Illustrations, 1 Map
Author Biography
The Author: Dr. Felicity Rash is a Lecturer in German at Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London). Her published work includes her doctoral thesis, French and Italian lexical influences in German-speaking Switzerland (1550-1650), and articles on German sociolinguistics and German-Swiss literature.