Deutsch-jiddischer Sprachenkontakt in der Figurenrede des Romans Die Peschl von Otto Seidmann im Kontext des Czernowitzerischen der Zwischenkriegszeit

Abstract

Abstract The present paper analyses the German–Yiddish contact variety of the first chapter of the novel Die Peschl (1969) written by the Czernowitz-born author Otto Seidmann. The novel Die Peschl is written in German; however, the discourses and inner monologues of the main character, Gitl Peschl, as well as most of the dialogues with her appear in a German–Yiddish contact variety. My contact linguistic analysis identified 25 subtypes of transference from Yiddish in the inner monologues of Gitl Peschl in the first chapter of the novel. As a result, the German–Yiddish contact variety of the first chapter of the novel Die Peschl can be classified as code mixing, with congruent lexicalization as its subcategory. Congruent lexicalization is typically the case when the languages involved in language contact exhibit a high amount of grammatical and lexical similarities. According to literary historian Hartmut Merkt, Otto Seidmann’s texts stand in the tradition of sketch writings that aim to depict the everyday life and vernacular of the Bukovinians in the first half of the 20th century.