The attitudes towards anglicisms in German. A survey analysis focussing on age-related differences

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Bremen, language: English, abstract: This paper is concerned with the subject of anglicisms. Anglicisms are lexical items, which are transferred into our everyday language use. They are surrounded by a constant debate about their necessity. While linguists mostly appreciate their advantages, linguistic purists regard them as a threat and try to remove or limit them. Through analyzing a survey, this study presents the attitudes towards anglicisms in German. Thereby, the influence the participants age has on their attitudes is especially focused on. After setting the scene by giving an overview about already existing research on the spread of English, anglicisms in German and linguistic purism, the survey analysis shows that older generations attitudes towards anglicisms tend to be more negative. As the paper focused on the social characteristic Age, future studies could discuss the influence class affiliation or education has on the attitudes towards anglicisms.