General characteristics of the development and formation of the German language
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58423/2786-6726/2026-2-45-68Keywords:
German language, standard language, dialect, regiolect, neologism, slangAbstract
The present study provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformational processes accompanying the evolution and formation of the German language at the current stage. It has been established that, today, approximately 90 million people in the European linguistic space identify German as their native language, while about 50 million more use it as a second or foreign language. Within the Federal Republic of Germany, German primarily functions as the official state language.
It has been found that the internal diversity of the German language is largely determined by the existence of regiolects, that is, regionally marked forms of oral speech. At the same time, such linguistic levels as the grammatical system and vocabulary, including processes of borrowing from other languages, are not subject to direct regulation by state institutions either at the national level or within individual federal states. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the factors that determine the dynamics of the development of the German language and cause its constant changes. These include the influence of dialects and regional language varieties, the specific features of youth speech, the linguistic consequences of migration processes, the characteristics of communication in the digital environment, and trends in contemporary colloquial language. It is emphasized that the most intensive shifts have been observed in recent decades in connection with globalization processes, which are accompanied by the active penetration of lexical units from other languages, primarily from English.
The generalization of the research results gives grounds to assert that the German language generally maintains structural and functional stability. At the same time, attention is drawn to the need for a more thorough understanding of, and purposeful response to, certain contemporary changes, which are often forced in nature and may influence the further development of the language system.
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