Language Selection and Switching in Strasbourg

ISBN-13: 9780198249931 / Angielski / Twarda / 1991 / 240 str.

Penelope Gardner-Chloros

Opis

The term `code-switching' is used to describe the mixing of different language varieties which often results from language contact. Penelope Gardner-Chloros presents the first full-length study of code-switching in a European context. Throughout history, Alsace has been a meeting point of the Roman and Germanic worlds. In spite of its marked regional character, it has been alternately claimed by France and Germany, each anxious to assimilate the region to its own national and linguistic identity. Today most of the population still speak a Germanic dialect, alternating with French which is the language of public life, education, and the media.The author lived in Strasbourg from 1981 to 1988. She describes this exemplar of code-switching not only as a linguist, but also as someone attuned to the many layers of significance which this mode of speech has in the Alsatian community.

Recenzje

`a long-overdue study of the phenomenon in Strasbourg ... The study is well-written ... and many a light touch ... This is an important book, not only for those who are interested in the linguistic situation in eastern France, but for language contact studies in general. The meticulous care with which data have been collected and analysed is a model of its kind, and one can only hope that other areas where languages are in contact will be treated with the same attention' French Language Studies