What happens to speakers of various languages, groups with diverse social and economic practices, when they come into contact with each other in a geographic area? The workshop explores this question with regard to the languages and peoples of the Danube region, focusing mainly on German, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian and Croatian, and Yiddish. 

The Danube region is, and historically certainly was, one of Europe’s most diverse linguistic areas. This workshop addresses the theme of language contact along the Danube from three perspectives. First, the idea of a Sprachbund, which has been proposed and duly dismissed by scholars, will be questioned. Can arguments be made for a Danubian cultural space from a linguistic and language-­‐‑ideological point of view? Second, the region will be explored from the angle of attitudes towards language, particularly the relationship between language, prestige, politics, and the linguistic individual in a variety of communities. Finally, how linguistic phenomena capture perceptions and stereotypes of the Other in various national and ethnic contexts will be examined. The workshop will end with a reflection about teaching contact linguistics in the “non-native” setting of London and how it can bring about fresh ways of discussing the region and its languages and cultures. 

09.11.2016: 18:15 - 20:00 Uhr

10.11.2016: 9:30 - 18:00 Uhr