LL-L 'Language varieties' 2007.02.07 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 07 February 2007 - Volume 07

=========================================================================

From: "Mathias Rösel" <Mathias.Roesel at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L 'Language varieties' 2007.02.07 (05) [E]

 From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

> FYI, the term kanak-sprak was
coined by Feridun Zainoglu who is an author of

Turkish provenance in Germany.

That's interesting.  I was referring to the origin and the original meaning
of the words when I added the background information:

> The naming clearly reveals racism
and/or xenophobia.  Kanak, Kanaker* etc.
(perhaps not directly
related to "Canuck" 'Canadian', but it may have

influenced it) are approximately equivalent to "wog" in
non-American
English.

> * from Hawaiian kanaka 'human
being', 'man', 'mankind', typically
'indigenous person(s)', developed
from Polynesian tangata lit. "that/those

that have been (here) before," originally used to refer to
Polynesians
transported as laborers to Queensland ("Kanakaland"),
Australia -- possibly
introduced into German via sailors'
jargon

 I assume you'd agree that it would not be advisable for an ethnic German to
call someone Kanaker in Germany, at least not to his face, that the word is
loaded and derisive.

It would be derisive, yes.

The fact that Zainolu uses it himself does not change this, at least not at
this juncture.

Yes, it does. Using it as a means of literature, Zainoglu made this term
acceptable. You can say, they speak kanak-sprak, that way denoting the way
they speak and at the same time ascribing their way of speaking a place in
its linguistical environment. There are German tv programmes where
characters speak kanak-sprak.

This is a well-known situation called "owning": despised populations
deliberately take on previously derogatory names for them, thus "defusing"
them and at the same time creating in-your-face attention with the names'
shock value.

That may be so with Schwule and so on. But kanak-sprak is not a derogatory
name in standard high German because it isn't standard high German. In
standard high German, this term is quoted as a foreign word. The name was
coined by mocking speakers of kanak-sprak by a speaker of kanak-sprak. It's
an act of emancipation, if you will.
-- 
Mathias

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Thanks for further explaining it, Mathias.

It seems to me that we are basically talking about the same thing.

Certainly, being relatively new, Kanak-Sprak would be used as a loan in
German at this juncture.  However, its connection with Kanak(er) and the
negative connotation this evokes ought to be clear to anyone with half a
brain, anyone not born yesterday.  It's only that saying the language name
is considered socially acceptable (unlike the word Kanak(er) from which it
is derived).  What you call "emancipation" is what I implied when I talked
about the "owning" process.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070207/a566f1f8/attachment.htm>