ABSTRACT

This chapter deals with an aspect of contemporary language change in the German-speaking countries that should be seen in the wider context of an increasingly globalised and media-influenced world. The three main components of this change are the use of English in many domains of communication, an increased visibility of multilingualism in society and the emergence of new forms of speech originating in urban communities, principally as a result of greatly increased migration over the last 25 years. Comedians started to draw on the newly developing stereotypes by incorporating elements of urban vernaculars, or inner-city characters speaking them, into their performances, which turned out to be widely popular, if controversial. Metalinguistic debates take place constantly in various different contexts and in relation to many languages, varieties, dialects and styles, and American linguist Barbara Johnstone claims that metalinguistic discourses can be instrumental in the emergence of new forms of language.