Kolloquium

Jaime Hunt (University of Newcastle, Australia) – „Changing voices in Newcastle and the Hunter: Language ideologies, utility, and attitudes in an Australian German-speaking community“

Abstract:

The German language has been part of the Australian linguistic landscape since the early days of white colonisation (Harmstorf & Cigler, 1985; Tampke & Doxford, 1990). Much has been written on the communities formed by multiple waves of German-speaking migrants since then, particularly regarding the maintenance of German in contact with English as the unofficial national language and the associated monolingual ideologies of mainstream society (e.g., Clyne, 1988; Hatoss, 2006; Hunt & Davis, 2022). Over time, and especially in recent decades, a dominant pattern of language shift to English within one generation has persisted, shaped by fluctuating language and cultural policies that alternately encourage and discourage multilingualism (Clyne, 1997; Clyne & Kipp, 1997; Djité, 2011).

Building on Hunt & Davis (2022), this paper explores the broader sociolinguistic factors and systemic ideologies influencing the maintenance and/or shift of German and examines the lived experiences and communicative practices of the “hidden” German-speaking community in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, Australia. We draw on semi-structured interviews with over 50 participants ranging in age from adolescence to those in their 90s, and spanning first, second, and third generations. We explore their attitudes and perceptions of the German language against the backdrop of the monolingual English mindset, and how these affect their plurilinguistic communicative practices.

Overall, our findings reveal that attitudes toward language maintenance vary significantly among participants, but do not consistently align with external systemic influences such as historical shifts in state and national language policy, language education policy, or mainstream linguistic ideologies. While there is some degree of maintenance associated with each wave of migration, creating “pockets” of language maintenance, language shift swiftly follows, in some cases driven by each new generation of migrants, in other cases, driven by their children, and in still more cases, by disinterest within both generations. Therefore, maintenance of German in Australia appears to be largely reliant upon newcomers.

References

Clyne, M. (1988). The German-Australian speech community: ethnic core values and language maintenance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1988(72), 67. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1988.72.67

Clyne, M. (1997). The German of 3rd Generation German-English Bilinguals in Australia. In W. Wölck & A. De Houwer (Eds.), Recent Studies in Contact Linguistics (pp. 36-43). Dümmler.

Clyne, M., & Kipp, S. (1997). Trends and changes in home language use and shift in Australia, 1986-1996. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 18(6), 451-473. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639708666334

Djité, P. G. (2011). Language policy in Australia: What goes up must come down? In C. Norrby & J. Hajek (Eds.), Uniformity and Diversity in Language Policy: Global Perspectives (pp. 53-67). Channel View Publications.

Harmstorf, I., & Cigler, M. (1985). The Germans in Australia. AE Press.

Hatoss, A. (2006). Language, Acculturation and Identity in the German Community of Rural South East Queensland. Language Awareness, 15(2), 80-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410608668852

Hunt, J. W., & Davis, S. E. (2022). ‘So, mein Deutsch ist schlecht … ’: echoes of societal attitudes and education language policies within the family language policies of second- and third-generation German speakers in Newcastle, Australia. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2037609

Tampke, J., & Doxford, C. (1990). Australia, willkommen : A history of the Germans in Australia. New South Wales University Press.