Steenkolenduits and the difficulty of language and to distinguish language usage 1. Introduction to the topic Abstract In Germany, the elections for the 38th Bundestag took place on 22 September 2013. In the pre- election campaign, it has become common for citizens' groups and associations to present so- called election criteria to the candidate parties. One of these was the question of whether the parties supported the motion based on an initiative by the "German Language Association", the German language association with the largest number of members, to add the sentence to Article 22 of the "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany": "The language of the Federal Republic of Germany is German". In response to this question, the party "Alliance 90/ The Greens" replied that it was difficult to explain "which 'German' is the German language of the Dieter STELLMACHER (Göttingen) Neerlandica Wratislaviensia XXIV Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis No 3619 Wrocÿaw 2014 correctness. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 This article presents and analyzes two texts and a number of short sentences as examples of Hardcoal- German. It appears that Hardcoal- German is an infusion of Dutch language elements into German. The result are many ill- formed German utterances which are nevertheless comprehensible to speakers of both languages. This is the main argument of some Dutch linguists who state that every form of global language will be a hardcoal language. In contrast to this assumption, I put forward the hypothesis that Hardcoal- German is not a language in the strict (linguistic) sense of the word; on the contrary, it is a situation- bound tool for simple communication between Dutchmen and Germans. In my view, much more extensive work will be necessary to arrive at a more accurate description and analysis of Hardcoal- German. This article will be the first step in that direction. Hardcoal- German (Dutch: Steenkolenduits) is a linguistic term for a very simplified form of German used by Dutchmen. The term was created in analogy to Hardcoal- English, a form of Pidgin English used by Dutch sailors on coal barges. First and foremost, a hardcoal- language is a medium for informal communication which attempts to achieve mutual understanding without regard to grammatical © for this edition by CNS Machine Translated by Google 2. Languages in the Language DIETER STELLMACHER Federal Republic of Germany' in the Basic Law would be affected at all."1 This answer, which at first glance seems ignorant, turns out on closer inspection to be an objection that should be taken seriously, especially when one knows the current structure of the German (and European) language situation2. The extent to which “areas of communication” and “style oppositions” mark certain ways of using language is described by the formula of “languages in language”. In doing so, one must be clear about what constitutes a “language as a closed system of symbols and/ or rules”3. How are sub- languages and language excerpts to be evaluated on this basis? What is their relationship to the standard variety that covers them, the national language? To what extent can similarities and differences be identified, and when can a variety/ language form be granted independence? The structuralist theory of the linguistic dia- system4 offers a way to answer such questions. In relation to the Dutch language situation, Jan Goossens explained the diasystem as follows: “Men can also be defined as a diasysteem... a linguistic construct, based on elements of a reeks communi- catiesysteme... which can be brought to all seeds in a form, which can be delivered to all of them in a fundamental way elk ander systeem af- zonderlijk vertoont, maar in sommige opzichten daarvan afwijkt... Alleen as a taal as a diasysteem defined wordt, kan de vraag of een groep dialecten, al of niet seeds met een 'Algemeen Beschaafd Communicatiesysteem' één taal uitmaken, answered... He stated that the Nederlandse dialects were the same as we met Nederlands het zg 'Algemeen Beschaafd'. Maar he zouden wel In the language situation with an increasingly widespread use of a global language and the associated functional losses of standardized national languages, it is justified to ask which language is the most important in a national communication community, especially since all this is accompanied by an official increase in the prestige of minority and regional languages (which in the Netherlands applies to Frisian and Nedersaxon, for example). Before quick answers of a linguistic or socio- political nature are voiced, there should be agreement that under the umbrella of a (standardized) national language there always also exist "languages" with different structures and communicative orientations: language forms or linguistic varieties or taaltjes. 144 Rossipal (4/1973), p. 5. Weinreich (1954), especially p. 391. I have commented on this several times recently, most recently in Stellmacher (2013a). See “Election Criteria”. Voice News 59 (III/ 2013), p. 8. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 © for this edition by CNS 2 3 1 4 Machine Translated by Google Excursus: Steenkolenengels STEENKOLENDUITS AND THE DIFFICULTY The decisive criteria for the belonging of a variety/ language form (both are used synonymously here) to a diasystem are therefore “de verwantschap en de verstaanbaarheid” (ibid.). This is consistent and convincing from a structural linguistics perspective. However, from the experience of linguistic work in language islands, another criterion is the will to use the language, because both the linguistic variants and their reduction (which is standardization) must be accepted by the language community and the will to use the language plays a major role in this. This also applies to the name of the language. If, for example, a Russian- German calls his current language form German, then it is German; if he wants it to be understood as Russian, then it would be Russian, regardless of what a structural or statistical analysis of the language reveals6. Further study of this language leads to the discussions about “Basic English” (= British American Scientific International Commercial) Nederlandse dialecten kunnen bestaan as we met de term Nederlands een diasy- steem bedoelen”5. 145 (Ogden 1968) and a “Basic Simple English” (BSE). This, like the “International Congres (or “Colloquial”) English” (ICE), is often treated in a feature section, e.g. Oliver Baer, Because we are English canners9, or reported under curiosities as in this note: “Nederlandse jokers. Toen Netherlands vo- rig jaar voorzitter van de EU was, smeekten de Britten hen alsjeblieft de zittingen te suffering in hun moedertaal, en de tolken hun werk te laten doen. The accent in the Dutch language is always spoken in a Babelse language. The largest blunder was wel de Nederlander die een Under this heading, the following explanation can be found in some large Dutch dictionaries, but not in the “Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal”: “bastaardtaal van Engels en Nederlands die zeelieden en arbeiders op kolenboten gebruiken; - (vand., in't alg.) zeer slecht Engels”7. The Koenen Handwörterbuch Dutch- German describes “coal English”8 as “Pidgin English”. How reliable a speaker's judgment is and to what extent it can be valid will now be tested using a Dutch- German hybrid language. As a transitional digression, something will be said about Steenkolenengels , the word formation model for Steenkolenduits. 6 9 7 5 8 van Dale (1999), p. 3223. © for this edition by CNS See Stellmacher (2013b). Goossens (1968), p. 4. Voice News 59 (III/ 2013), p. 13. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 Koenen, Concise Dictionary Dutch- German (2001), p. 781. Machine Translated by Google DIETER STELLMACHER 3. Steenkolenduits As a social given (“fait social”), language requires established norms, i.e. standards, to function in communication. “Language ... is by its nature homogeneous in itself: it forms a system of signs in which only the connection between meaning and sound sign is essential and in which the two sides of the sign are equally psychic”13. If the now less important national language was once polyvalent as a standardized national language, it is now losing functions and areas of use (domains), and ultimately the national language is being dialectized. And that is language loss! Or is Steenkolenengels not a language defined in this way, but rather a kind of language of embarrassment used to try to somehow cope linguistically in a situation with people who do not speak a language of their own? The so- called Steenkolenduits will now be examined from this perspective. vergadering afsloot with the word 'we have worked hardly today' (with hardly 'hard' bedoelend, terwijl het in werkelijkheid 'nauwelijks' betekent). (Steven de Foer)”10. The positive assessment of Steenkolenengel (like other hard coal variants: Singlish in Singapore, Honglish in Hong Kong, Konglish in South Korea, Namlish in Namibia, Ghanlish in Ghana; probably also Denglisch in Germany, Franglais in France, Svengelska in Sweden, etc.) raises the question of linguistic nature. Is Steenkolenengels really a systematic language, a langue in the sense of Ferdinand de Saussure? While the dictionary references cited above still had negative connotations, more recent publications by Dutch linguists view this form of language positively, namely as a welcome additional option in international language communication. The Steenkolenengels "takes something too far from our possibilities, nobody takes anything away from it"11. However, the author of this line contradicts this himself when he correctly states elsewhere: "In a world of globalization, an international language is becoming more and more important than the English language, and the languages of the country where you live are becoming less important"12. 146 For the Dutch online lexicon <encyclo.nl>, Steenkolenduits is “de benaming voor slecht tot zeer slecht Duits, spoken by Nederlanders en Vla- mingen. The term is verzonnen according to the analogy of stone angels. De tegenhan- van Oostendorp (2002), p. 14; see also van der Horst (2008), p. 312. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 van Oostendorp (2002), p. 62. Steven de Foer. International Forum (1/1998). © for this edition by CNS 13 de Saussure (1967), p. 18. 12 10 11 Machine Translated by Google STEENKOLENDUITS AND THE DIFFICULTY 16 Wolff (2010), p. 79. 14 15 How about a little change (= a little walk) Please come and visit sometime . This will now be examined using examples from two books with Coal German titles by Reinhard Wolff (Wolff 2010, 2011). First, two rhymed Coal German text samples: Get well soon to your wife. a) But finally the time has come: to the restaurant "zum schwarzen Hirsch"? 16 The stop light (= traffic light) turns green. b) Business cards back and forth 147 You sit down ready to sign by hand . — and please call me on my mobile phone” We have enough space to sleep. With the cork of the champagne (= cork of the champagne bottle), The boss is now trying " At the end of the village, the old building A quick (= decent) bottle, a real Kanjer (= a real giant). ger, bad Nederlands uit een German mond, word wel Prlwitzkowskinederlands genoemd naar Professor Prlwitzkowsky uit Olivier B. Bommel“14. Eating something again — for the umpteenth time! There is no corresponding term in German dictionaries, but you can find it in a small Dutch cultural guide for Germans. It says: "Many Dutch people who try to speak German use a kind of artificial language that they call Steenkolenduits . 'Coal German' is essentially nothing other than pure Dutch, but with a German pronunciation. Cheers to the successful negotiation. “But I admit that I liked it To get to know you better (= to get to know you), — And the strange thing is that as a native German speaker you usually understand it without any problems! 15 According to these lexicographical assessments, Steenkolenduits is an artificial language, bad German, pure Dutch with German pronunciation (ie with German sprinkles). The ball is now through the church (= it's done/ the cow is off the ice). also it was good ( = to get used to it). Busse (2012), p. 128. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 http:// nl.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ steenkolenduits; Olivier B. Bommel is a comic character, “a man who stands and lives in a castle called 'Bommelstein'” (thanks to Dr. Jan Berns, Amsterdam, for this explanation). © for this edition by CNS Machine Translated by Google 17 Wolff (2010), p. 87. DIETER STELLMACHER that they are (1) difficult to understand or (2) incomprehensible in German: 1. The literal adoption of a Dutch lexeme makes the statement (almost) incomprehensible in German: Dutch (Ndl.) op de vierde verdieping = coal- mining German (stdt.) on the fourth depression 'on the fourth floor' (Wolff 2010, p. 47); Dutch. Hoe bedoelt u dat precies? = stdt. Wie beduhlen Sie das prezies? 'What do you mean exactly?' (ibid., p. 34). (1) Dutch. Dat is andere koek = stdt. That is other cakes 'That's something completely different' (Wolff 2011, p. 22); Dutch. Onze firma heeft een uitstekende reputatie = stdt. Our company has an outstanding reputation 'Our company has an excellent reputation ' (Wolff 2010, p. 31); Dutch. Hoe een koe een haas vangt = stdt. 2. Incorrect letter replacement oe by ü, resulting in a different meaning: Like a cow catches a rabbit 'A blind chicken also finds a grain of corn' (Wolff 2011, p. 87); 148 Dutch: How many students are transported daily? = stdt. How many students do you transport daily? 'How many students do you transport daily (by bus)?' (Wolff 2011, p. 40). Dutch dure uren = expensive clocks 'expensive hours' (ibid., p. 64); Dutch 3. Due to phonetic and formal similarities, translations of Dutch lexemes into German, the so- called “false friends” (faux amis), make the utterance incomprehensible: at the entrance (= at the entrance) to the B-9 Hij kon de huur niet betalen = stdt. He couldn't pay the whore 'He couldn't pay the rent' (Wolff 2010, p. 55); Dutch. Wat is hij slim en knap! = stdt. Come along — I will be happy.”17 How bad and stingy he is! 'How clever and smart he is!' (ibid., p. 21). The examples from coal- mining German collected by G. Wolff are transfers from Dutch into German. They affect language comprehension in various ways. 4. Literal translations of statements and sayings with the result, © for this edition by CNS Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 Machine Translated by Google STEENKOLENDUITS AND THE DIFFICULTY 19 21 20 18 Weinreich (1968); Goebl et al. (1996/97). to have found a viable path to simple global understanding. These examples of coal- German with their lexical and grammatical violations of German language norms fit in with comparable results of language contact research18 . They have been made usable for foreign language teaching as “positive transfer” (= transferences) and “negative transfer” (= interference)19. Guided (secondary) language teaching assumes that the negative transfers (like the above examples under 1 to 3) are to be corrected. In this understanding, coal- German would be a learning stage in the acquisition of “proper German” and by no means an independent intermediate language, tussentaal. Here the interferences would have to be usual linguistic features, accepted language use. From the perspective of norm deviation and the einde van de standaardtaal , it is believed that with “a coal- German variant”20 Dutch. Een zuivere winst van twee milljoen = stdt. a clean profit of two million 'A net profit of two million' (Wolff 2011, p. 44); Dutch. mijn wel- gemeende excuses = stdt. Meine aufrichtige Exkusionen 'my sincere apology' (ibid., p. 100); Dutch. Christel, mag ik jou wat vragen? = stdt. Christel, mag ich dir was fragen? 'Christel, may I ask you something?' (ibid., p. 91); Such a conviction ignores the not unimportant question of whether the coal variants are not just mere occasions, situations- based uses of language and not languages with a system and norm, langues in the sense of de Saussure. From him we have learned to distinguish between language and speaking in every linguistic reflection21. (2) Dutch. Hij viel met de neus in de boter = stdt. He fell with his nose in the butter 'He was lucky' (ibid., p. 119); Dutch. Hij heeft nog de baard in de keel = stdt. He still has his beard in his throat 'He's still going through voice break' (ibid., p. 94); Dutch. De kat uit de boom kijken = stdt. First let's look at the cat from the tree 'Let's just wait and see' (Wolff 2010, p. 34). I'll give you that in writing = stdt. I'll give you that in writing ' (ibid., p. 93). 5. Semantic and grammatical borrowings from Dutch without comprehension difficulties: 149 P. 101; corresponding material is also available in the eight- volume series Dialekt / Hochsprache — kontrastiv. Sprachhefte für den Deutschunterricht (Dialect / Standard Language — Contrastive. Language Booklets for German Lessons), which covers all dialectal areas of the Federal Republic before 1990. Düsseldorf: Schwann 1976– 1981. See Hildenbrandt (1972), p. 10. Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure’s definitions and dichotomies is a somewhat problematic approach, given that he only wrote in the last quarter of the 20th century. van Oostendorp (2002), p. 99. See the discussion contribution by Juhász (1969) and de Grève / van Passel (1971), esp. © for this edition by CNS Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 Machine Translated by Google 4. Conclusions DIETER STELLMACHER In the further development of dialectological research strategies, linguistics is currently intensively studying linguistic intermediate forms. This involves the relationships between all languages, language forms and linguistic varieties that are summarized in a diasystem or a comparable language (form) model. There are probably reasons related to the history of language that have given the Belgian- South Dutch language area a central position in this research. Here, the study of supra- regional language forms has led via Schoon Vlaams and Journaalnederlands to Verkavelingsvlaams . And this is no longer an intermediate language, “no ... transitive language of a phase in a standard language process”, but rather “the informal everyday language” in Dutch- speaking Belgium22. This finding is also based on “grammatical contours” that allow systematization. And that is precisely what is not the case with Steenkolenduits, as far as could be examined. It is probably not considered necessary at all, because “elk praten over 'goed' of 'fout' taalgebruik is, zeker in the international arena, sadlijk. He is not specifically trained in a strict heel system. He is vooral behoefte aan neitherzijds concept”23. This is about general knowledge, not theoretical knowledge24. And in general The topic of this article was introduced with a reference to the politically controversial constitutional amendment in Germany. The party representing the rejection position argues as one would expect in a linguistic context, but not in a political one. 150 If you go a few kilometers further, a different Low German is spoken, right? S2: Although only small differences, Bornreihe and here, for example Pennigbüttel, are significant differences in Low German. S1: But there are so many differences, aren’t there, in the individual regions. If you have ten S1: Not just one kilometer, from village to village. van Oostendorp (2002), p. 132. Any linguistic field researcher can provide clear examples of the distinction between general and theoretical language knowledge, for example this excerpt from a conversation between the researcher (F) and four speakers (S1,2,3,4) from a small town in northern Germany: Cajot (2012), p. 49. century in Germany, does not represent a recourse to outdated linguistic thinking. S3: Jan S., you met S. here recently, he is from Neu Sankt Jürgen, he speaks a completely different Low German than the one that is generally spoken, you could say. S4: On, on, I said... on certain, uh, expressions, on certain words that are simply pronounced differently. I mean, it's hard to give an example, you just know it... (!) (Stellmacher 1977, p. 19). © for this edition by CNS Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 Q: What are these differences? 23 22 24 Machine Translated by Google bibliography Juhász, János (1969). 'Transfer and interference'. In German as a foreign language 6, pp. 195– 198. Stellmacher, Dieter (1977). Studies on spoken language in Lower Saxony. A sociolinguistic Cajot, Jose (2012). 'Waarom het Verkavelingsvlaams onvermijdelijk was. The development of an informal community in Vlaanderen'. In Kevin Absillis, Jürgen Jaspers & Sarah Van Hoof (red.), De manke usurpator. Over Verkavelingsvlaams. Ghent: Academia Press, pp. 39– 66. tical investigation. 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Amsterdam: JM Meulenhoff bv Busse, Gerd (2012). Typically Dutch. The Netherlands from A to Z. Münster: agenda Verlag. de Saussure, Ferdinand (1967). Fundamental Questions of General Linguistics. Edited by Charles Bally & Albert Sechehaye. 2nd edition. Berlin: de Gruyter. STEENKOLENDUITS AND THE DIFFICULTY 151 In general, German is the standardized national language in Germany. This is undisputed. What is less clear in general linguistic knowledge is what a coal language is. In theoretical linguistic knowledge, this is probably seen as a way of using language in the form of a situation- related idiolect, a situationolect. It remains to be seen whether such ways of using language can one day be developed into systematic languages. Machine Translated by Google Weinreich, Uriel (1968). Languages in contact. 6th edition. The Hague/ Paris: Mouton. Wolff, Reinhard (2011). It will probably be fine. German- speaking translators. Groningen: Self- published/ Script- Wolff, Reinhard (2010). Let's sit down. The wonderful stonework of the Hollanders. Gronin- gen: self- published. Weinreich, Uriel (1954). 'Is a Structural Dialectology Possible?' In Word 10, pp. 388– 400. Neerlandica Wratislaniensia 24, 2014 tum Publishers. © for this edition by CNS 152 DIETER STELLMACHER Machine Translated by Google