Denglisch () is a term describing the increased use of anglicisms and pseudo-anglicisms in the German language. It is a portmanteau of the German words (German) and . The term is first recorded from 1965.Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 23. DOI: 10.1075/eww.00001.lam The use of Denglisch words within language may also be referred to as Denglicism.
The word has been adopted in English in an anglicized form as Denglish, recorded from 1996.
Terminology The term is particularly used by language purists in all German-speaking countries to refer to the increasingly strong influx of English or pseudo-English vocabulary (and other features of the language such as grammar and orthography) into German.War of words | World news | guardian.co.uk The standard German reference work Duden defines it as "a pejorative term for German with too many English expressions mixed in."Sönke Krügers Warum Denglisch Sprachmüll ist – Nachrichten Vermischtes Welt Online, 19 November 2007
Other sources use words with aggressive, hostile, or negative connotations to describe it such as "a persistent infiltration", an "invasion", "onslaught", or "attack", or that it is "corrupting the language" (in English) or is an "infectious disease".
Other slang terms in German which refer to the same phenomenon include: ("McGerman"), ("dumb German"), (kebab German).
In English there are numerous colloquial portmanteau words. One set is based on the word Deutsch. These include (chronologically) Deutschlisch (first recorded in 1970), Deutlish (1977), Deutschlish (1979) and Dinglish (1990).Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 22. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam Another set of terms is based on the word German. These include (chronologically) Germenglish (first recorded 1936), Germanglish (1967), Gerglish (1968), Germish (1972), Germlish (1974), Genglish (1977), Ginglish (1989), Germinglish (1996), and Gernglish (1996).Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 24-25. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
Criticism Some influence of English on German is expected as part of normal language contact. The term Denglisch refers to abundant or excessive use of anglicisms or pseudo-anglicisms in German.
The introduction of English buzzwords peaked during the 1990s and the early 2000s. Since then, the ubiquity of the practice has made it much less fashionable or prestigious, and several commentators have argued against it. Zeit Online (whose title is itself an example of the prevalence of anglicisms in German IT terminology) criticized the ubiquitous use of English in a 2007 article. Although the article acknowledged the risks of excessive linguistic purism, it condemned the fashion of labeling information desks at train stations, formerly simply known as Auskunft, with the anglicism Service Point. The choice of the pseudo-anglicism Brain up! by then-minister for education Edelgard Bulmahn as a campaign slogan in 2004 was highlighted as an extreme case by Die Zeit. Frankfurter Allgemeine satirized this choice at the time of its introduction,Uphearen bitte! csl., Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 January 2004, Nr. 22 / p. 36. and later wrote that even the English-speaking sphere was mocking "German linguistic submissiveness".Deutschland ist in der Sinnkrise, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 September 2015 (in German)
Forms of influence Words and expressions labeled as Denglisch can come from various sources, including loanwords, calques, anglicisms, pseudo-anglicisms, or adoption of non-native grammar, syntax, or spelling.
Loanwords
German vocabulary has numerous cases of English loanwords now fully "naturalized" as German words, including full inflection. English had only very limited influence on German before the mid-19th century. Such loanwords as there are mostly concern nautical vocabulary, loaned into Low German (e.g. tank, ultimately from Indo-Aryan; Tanker (tanker (ship)) is early 20th century).
In the 19th century, it was still more common to use loan translation for the vocabulary of industrialisation (Dampfmaschine for "steam engine", Pferdestärke for "horse power", etc.). To some extent, this continued in the early 20th century: Wolkenkratzer for "skyscraper", Kaugummi for "chewing gum", Flutlicht for "flood light", Fernsehen for "television".
English loanwords became more common in the early 20th century. A notable example from this period is Test (ultimately from Old French test "earthen pot"). Test was compatible both with German phonology and orthography so its nature as a loan is not evident.
Early loanwords (19th to early 20th century) often describe garments or foodstuffs: Jumper (19th century), Curry (19th century loan from English, ultimately from Tamil), Pyjama (early 20th century loan from English pyjamas, ultimately from Urdu), Trenchcoat (1920s). Other loanwords are boykottieren "to boycott" (1890s) and Star.
Direct influence of English, especially via US pop culture, became far more pronounced after the end of World War II, with allied-occupied Germany and later by association with 1960s to 1970s US counterculture: Jeep, Quiz, Show, Western, Rock, Hippie, Groupie.
The newest and most prolific wave of anglicisms arose after 1989 with the end of the Cold War and the surge of the "Anglo-Saxon" smack of economic liberalism in continental Europe and the associated business jargon ("CEO" became extremely fashionable in German, replacing traditional terms such as Direktor, Geschäftsführer, Vorsitzender during the 1990s). At the same time, the rapid development of information technology pushed many technical terms from that field into everyday language.
Many of the more recent loans have developed in the spoken language and are still clearly felt to be English words, so their English orthography is retained in written communication, which leads to awkward spellings combining German morphemes with English word stems, as in gebootet ("booted up" of a computer) or gecrasht or gecrashed ("crashed", of a computer), downgeloadet, gedownloadet or gedownloaded ("downloaded"). They also retain English phonology in many cases, including phonemes that do not exist in Standard German (such as the /eɪ/ in "update").
Pseudo-anglicisms A pseudo-anglicism is a word in another language that is formed from English elements and may appear to be English, but is not used by native English speakers.
Pseudo anglicism Meaning Remarks BasecapDuden, Basecap baseball cap BeamerDuden overhead projector FotoshootingDuden, Fotoshooting photo shoot HandyDuden, Handy mobile phone It could be derived from handie-talkie or handy-talky, a more convenient, handheld form of the military radio introduced in World War II, better known as "walkie-talkie" or "walky-talky", which was previously carried on the back. Since in German only the word Walkie-Talkie is known, rather unlikely ShowmasterDuden, Showmaster TV-show host/emcee trampenDuden, trampen hitchhiking Youngtimer an old, but not yet vintage or classic car derived from the German Oldtimer, meaning vintage or classic car (or aircraft),Duden, Youngtimer itself derived from the more general (non-car-specific) English oldtimer.
Adoption of grammar or idioms Another form of Denglisch consists of calques of popular English expressions which replace German words and idioms. Common examples are:
Was passierte in 2005? (What happened in 2005?) Formally: Was passierte 2005? or Was passierte im Jahr 2005?
Although this is considered incorrect by many native speakers as it violates German grammar, it can be found even in German newspapers.
Das macht Sinn. (That makes sense.) Formally: Das ergibt Sinn.; Das hat Sinn., or Das ist sinnvoll. Willkommen zu [unserem Videochannel], properly Willkommen bei ... (although it has been pointed out that combination of "willkommen" with the preposition zu can also be found in German classics).Willkommen zu ... bei ... an? Was stimmt denn nun?, Die Welt, 23 January 2012
Orthography Another phenomenon is the usage of the possessive construction 's (generally used in English but also correct in German in sundry cases), often called Deppenapostroph or Idiotenapostroph ("Idiot's apostrophe" or "Idiot's inverted comma") instead of the traditional German constructions. For example, a Denglisch speaker might write Wikipedia's Gestaltung ("Wikipedia's design") instead of either Wikipedias Gestaltung or die Gestaltung der Wikipedia. Less often, it is used incorrectly to mark a plural s (Greengrocers' apostrophe); pluralizing with an apostrophe is correct in Dutch, not in German or English. Handy's, Dessou's, or for adverbial expressions, such as montag's (instead of montags, cf. English [on] Mondays).
The apostrophe is also frequently confused with other characters, with stand-alone acute or grave accents being used in its stead.
Denglisch may combine words according to English rules by writing them in succession. According to the Standard German grammar and spelling rules, that is incorrect. Reparatur Annahme instead of Reparaturannahme The first spelling, with two separate words, makes no logical or grammatical connection between the words but simply juxtaposes them. The second combines them into one word, an Annahme (in this case a place where something is received) for Reparaturen (repairs). That is often called Deppenleerstelle, or Deppenleerzeichen which means idiot's space, incorrectly separating parts of a compound word.
Non-translation Many words are taken over as is from English, with little or no change in spelling even if it doesn't fit the German orthographic system. One German source laments the presence of Denglisch as an "infectious disease" of "raging anglicitis" in the German language, which manifests as a kind of "hybrid communications medium". It gives as examples the words events, economy, performance, entertainment, or electronic cash appearing in German.
Some major companies such as Deutsche Bank now conduct much of their business in English, while several departments of the major German telephone company Deutsche Telekom were known as "T-Home" (formerly "T-Com"), "T-Mobile", "T-Online", and "T-Systems".
Reinventing titles for English-language films dubbed into German was once a common practice so, for example, Paul Landres' 1958 Western Man from God's Country became Männer, die in Stiefeln sterben (i.e. Men Who Die with Their Boots On.), while Raoul Walsh's 1941 film They Died with Their Boots On became Sein letztes Kommando (His Last Command) or Der Held des Westens (The Hero of the West). Most current American film titles are no longer translated into German, (Ice Age) although they still often receive German appendages like Prometheus – Dunkle Zeichen (Prometheus – Dark Signs) or include puns not present in the original title, such as Clerks – Die Ladenhüter for Clerks – The Shelf-Warmers. Menus of many global fast food chains also usually go partly or completely untranslated: "Double Whopper (formally: Doppel-Whopper) mit leckerem Bacon und Cheddar Cheese."
Advertising language Advertising agencies in German-speaking countries have such a need for skills in English that they want ads for new employees to contain plain English such as "Join us".Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung 26 August 2006 KFC Germany's recruitment slogan is "I Am for Real", and its website shows very heavy use of English coupled with nonstandard German.
German commercials or, more often, written advertisements are likely to use many English terms: