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Germanic and Slavic Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9882

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Browsing Germanic and Slavic Studies by Author "Eichinger, Ludwig"

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    Being a South Tyrolean: Examining Identity in Conversation and Linguistic Landscapes
    (University of Waterloo, 2020-08-26) Carroll, James Ryan; Liebscher, Grit; Eichinger, Ludwig
    In this dissertation, I examine the role of language in the enacting of identity in the German-speaking community in the province of South Tyrol, Italy. Within this province on the border between Austria and Italy, the languages of German, Italian, and Ladin are recognized as official languages, and the vast majority of the population there is multilingual. Group and cultural identities in this province are strongly connected to language. Despite the close proximity of these language groups, there is relatively little mixing between them. This dissertation focuses on the German-speaking community in South Tyrol and examines conversation and publicly-displayed signs in order to offer a better understanding of how this community enacts and negotiates these identities. I follow Zimmerman’s (1998) approach to identity, which holds that how identities are made relevant in a particular stretch of talk-in-interaction can reveal information about the interlocutors’ “transportable identities” and the larger social order. Blommaert (2005) echoes this notion, arguing that identities extend beyond the practices that both construct them and are influenced by them. Using this methodological approach, I use both interactional data from interviews with German-speaking South Tyroleans and the linguistic practices found in the linguistic landscape of South Tyrol to examine aspects of identity. Using the evidence found in these two data sets, I show that broader Discourses (Gee, 2014) can be found in these examples of day-to-day interactions and practices. Using the tools of interactional linguistics, I analyze transcribed interview data to show how my interview participants construct membership categories for the food traditions and the geography of South Tyrol. For these participants, “being South Tyrolean” is something that is greater than the sum of the parts, as well as contradictory at times. I show through selected examples from the linguistic landscape of South Tyrol how an official Discourse is displayed and reinforced on not only government-produced signs, but also on private signs. Fundamental to this Discourse is the viewpoint that the German language and language group are to be equal to the Italian language and language group, a viewpoint that has helped to protect the German language, but has also contributed to more rigid boundaries between the two groups. These Discourses can offer a more fine-grained understanding of group and cultural identities. Further, they can inform political and language policy decisions not only in the province of South Tyrol but also in the broader context of the country of Italy and the European Union.
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    Germans and German Brazilians: Discourses of Authenticity in Blumenau
    (University of Waterloo, 2018-08-31) Eppelmann, Michael; Eichinger, Ludwig; Liebscher, Grit
    Between 1820 and 1940, more than 200,000 German-speaking Europeans emigrated to Brazil. One of the most famous German settlements to this day is Blumenau in the state of Santa Catarina. This thesis examines how and why the Germanness of the German Brazilians in Blumenau has been changing since the city’s foundation in 1850. Methodologically, this is undertaken by combining the findings of preexisting historical science research with the analysis of primary sources from the Blumenau region, specifically of newspaper articles and theatre plays. Three examined factors are ethnic Germanness, the usage of the German language as well as events and practices perceived to be German. These are deconstructed in the context of Jan Blommaert’s enoughness theory. Blommaert sees authenticity in an increasingly diverse world as a mere judgment based on a sum of alleged characteristics that can change in the course of time. The results of this research show that the Germanness of Blumenau has been challenged rather by the increasing heterogeneity of inhabitants with German descent themselves than by non-Germans who moved to the city in exceeding rates. Internal quarrels about German culture, with new German arrivals and National Socialism being major arguments, in addition to the opposed Brazilianization campaign of President Getúlio Vargas during the 1930’s and 1940’s, have decisively led to the attrition of the German language. Today, the Blumenau Germanness is mostly seen as the cause of the economic success of the city which has always been a major part of the city’s self-perception. The contemporary Oktoberfest as a playful homage to the German roots of Blumenau is just another indicator of this.