Variational Pragmatics of German: Comparing Communicative Patterns

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Tanja Ackermann; Professor Dr. Horst Simon
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465122891

This project draws on current research regarding communicative patterns in everyday communication as well as on recent studies on diatopic variation in the German-speaking area. The over-arching aim of the project—on the basis of five sub-projects—is to elucidate how pragmatic variation in German is distributed geographically and how common assumptions about communicative patterns relate to data on actual language use. Therefore, we plan to investigate differences in communication behavior in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (both between and within these countries) on a broad empirical basis with an eye to a strict areal comparability; the results will be contrasted with stereotypical attributions in media discourse. Data will be gathered on both oral and written language use in synchronic as well as diachronic perspective. In the synchronic strand we will be working with online questionnaires (including discourse completion tasks, ratings of situational politeness or suitability) and with direct observation, among other things. With regard to written communication we will use a diachronic corpus of private letters from the 19th and 20th century as well as a synchronic and diachronic corpus of complaint behavior. We focus on pragmatic forms such as T/V-address forms, greetings etc. and on speech acts that are particularly sensitive to politeness issues (e.g. requests and complaints). Moreover, we will compile a corpus of media discourses and we will analyze newspaper articles (including online comments) and popular guidebooks, complemented by audiovisual content (such as talk shows). With the exception of a few small-scale studies with selective comparisons, no such empirical research program situated at the interface between variational linguistics and pragmatics in German has yet been undertaken. This lack of research stands in stark contrast to the public interest generated by this topic. The results from our project will be made fruitful on a theoretical level both within the discipline of linguistics (above all for the methodology of variational pragmatics and for our understanding of pluriareality, enregisterment and politeness) and in interdisciplinary connections with sociology, ethnography, psychology and media studies. On the basis of our results we will also participate in public discourse.The individual ranges in expertise of the PIs are partly complementary and partly overlapping: pragmatics/politeness/address: Ackermann, Simon; pluricentricity/-areality: Dürscheid, Elspaß; written communication/media/internet: Dürscheid, Elspaß, Simon; corpus linguistics: Ackermann, Elspaß; elicitation techniques: Ackermann, Elspaß, Simon; outreach: Dürscheid, Simon.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria, Switzerland
• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF); Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Christa Dürscheid; Professor Dr. Stephan Elspaß