In line with the other contributions to this issue on teaching pragmatics, this paper provides teachers of German with a two-day lesson plan for integrating authentic spoken language and its associated cultural background into their teaching. Specifically, the paper discusses how "jaja" and its phonetic variants are systematically used…

Focuses on the language situation in Luxembourg, examining the interference between Letzeburgesch on one hand and, French German, and English on the other. Bourdieu's concept of legitimate language is modified to match the situation in Luxembourg of "triglossia with trilinguaism" and the legitimate multilingual language competence, which…

Considers the linguistic creativity of West German users of English and their particular variety of English, its forms and functions, processes of nativization, the borrowing process, and West Germans' attitudes toward English, and highlights the unique social, cultural and linguistic role English plays in the German context. (Author/CB)

Argues that language varieties represent an important aspect of the development of bilingualism. Analysis of migrant children's acquisition of German and their productive, reactive, and receptive competence demonstrates that children who fail in the understanding and use of language varieties often lack the necessary sociocultural knowledge.…

The quantification of communication network integration provides valuable information for the study of language change in very small rural communities such as Grossdorf, Austria. The approach is particularly relevant when study of aggregate group behavior has failed to yield results due to small sample size or group internal inconsistency. (26…