German-speaking Research Articles

Time-dynamic associations between symptom-related expectations, self-management experiences and somatic symptom severity in everyday life: an ecological momentary assessment study with university students

ObjectiveThe present study investigated the associations between symptom-related expectations, self-management experiences and expectation framing on somatic symptom severity in university students in two conditions (positive or standard expectation framing). We...

A listening advantage for native speech is reflected by attention-related activity in auditory cortex

The listening advantage for native speech is well known, but the neural basis of the effect remains unknown. Here we test the hypothesis that attentional enhancement in auditory cortex is stronger for native speech, using magnetoencephalography. Chinese and German speech stimuli were recorded by a bilingual speaker and combined into a two-stream, cocktail-party scene, with consistent and inconsistent language combinations. A group of native speakers of Chinese and a group of native speakers of German performed a detection task in the cued target stream. Results show that attention enhances negative-going activity in the temporal response function deconvoluted from the speech envelope. This activity is stronger when the target stream is in the native compared to the non-native language, and for inconsistent compared to consistent language stimuli. We interpret the findings to show that the stronger activity for native speech could be related to better top-down prediction of the native speech streams.

How large is the impact of English on Present-day German?

The present study builds on a dictionary of neologisms compiled by the Institut für deutsche Sprache (IDS) in Mannheim that covers the period from 1991 to 2020 per decade. It contains about 2,500 new words, phraseologisms, and new meanings. Three decades seem to be a suitable time span for exploring a shortterm diachronic perspective on lexical innovations. The aim of the present study is to interrogate whether English has provided a significantly larger number of borrowings to present-day German than in earlier times (see Busse 2011a) due to its presently unchallenged position as a global language, and whether word-formation processes (Lehnwortbildungen) on a native or mixed basis are a productive source for the formation of new lexical items. To this end, the results from the Neologismenwörterbuch online will be compared to those obtained in previous pertinent studies on dictionaries of anglicisms such as the Anglizismen-Wörterbuch (1993–1995), A Dictionary of European Anglicisms (2001) and the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch (1913–1988).

Morphosemantic Role of the Regular Plural Morpheme Within English Compounds

This study investigates the semantic role of the regular plural morpheme in the modifiers of English compounds (e.g., publications catalogue, weapons inspection), specifically examining whether this morpheme functions solely as a grammatical connector or also contributes semantic meaning. Sixty-seven monolingual native English speakers rated the acceptability of 80 sentences containing novel compounds with a medial regular plural morpheme. The compounds were divided into two types: those referring to many tokens of the same entity, such as *cars collection, and those referring to multiple types within a category, such as vehicles exhibition. The results revealed a statistically significant preference for compounds referring to multiple types, with participants rating these compounds as more acceptable than those indicating many tokens of the same entity. Such results provide evidence that the regular plural morpheme inside compounds contributes to semantic distinctions when it denotes categorical diversity. The findings have important implications for linguistic theory, demonstrating that the regular plural morpheme within compounds is not simply a grammatical linking element observed in noun compounds of other Germanic languages, but rather one that carries morphosemantic weight. In conclusion, the study argues that the regular plural within compounds operates similarly to lexical plurals, contributing semantic distinctions beyond its function as an inflectional marker.

Linguistic gaps in focus: comparative aspect of Ukrainian and German languages

The article is devoted to one of the most topical issues in translation studies, as evidenced by the increased interest of many linguists in it – the translation of non-equivalent vocabulary in German. The concepts of “lacuna” and “non-equivalent vocabulary” are defined with due regard to the works of many scholars. At the same time, it is noted that there is no unanimity in linguistics on this issue. Different scholars interpret the terms “non-equivalent vocabulary” and “lacuna” in different ways. A working definition has been generated according to which non-equivalent vocabulary is the concepts, objects and phenomena that exist in the source language and have neither partial nor full equivalents in the target language. The article is devoted to the peculiarities of lacunae translation in Ukrainian and German, translation issues are considered, and it is emphasised that translation theory is aimed at the fullest reproduction of the original in a foreign language environment.

Bridging Borders with a Project-based Approach to Enhance Bidirectional Cultural Awareness in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Cultural awareness is essential in foreign language education. This paper explores two projects that exemplify the integration of cultural elements into foreign language learning involving both first language (L1) and second language (L2) cultures. The first project was initiated in the course “German Cinema”. It focuses on the legendary English-language sketch “Dinner for One”, which has been part of traditional New Year’s Eve entertainment in the German-speaking world for over sixty years. Students explored its significance within German culture through surveys, translation, creative adaptations and organised an imaginary festival. These activities foster intercultural dialogue and understanding. The second project, “Die goldene Meergundel” (The Golden Goby), is an extracurricular activity that integrates Thai culture with the German language. A Thai fairy tale was performed in Likay-style theatre, but was spoken and sung entirely in German. The blending of Thai folklore with German pronunciation can enhance both cross-cultural appreciation and linguistic proficiency. These case studies underscore the significance of enhancing bidirectional cultural awareness in foreign language teaching and learning. Educators can act as facilitators by engaging students in projects that transcend linguistic boundaries, effectively bridging cultural borders, and cultivating foreign language learners to be equipped with intercultural competence and global citizenship.

Does productive agreement morphology increase sensitivity to agreement in a second language?

Adult language learners have variable performance with subject-verb number agreement. But it is unclear whether their performance additionally depends on the availability of agreement morphology in their first language. To address this question, we conducted a self-paced reading task comparing different speaker groups: (a) first vs. second language speakers of German; (b) intermediate-to-advanced German learners whose first language had more or less productive number agreement morphology (Spanish vs. English). Two manipulations were used to diagnose number processing: agreement violations and agreement attraction. Our results showed decreased sensitivity to agreement violations in language learners, irrespective of the morphological productivity of their first language. Meanwhile, differences in attraction effects were inconclusive in all between-group comparisons. We suggest that second language variability with subject-verb agreement is unlikely to result from increased retrieval interference – the effect underlying attraction. Instead, variable performance more likely arises because learners have difficulties in the real-time mapping of inflectional morphemes to syntactic features.

Немецкие модальные частицы как компоненты аналитических конструкций

The work aims to identify various manifestations of analyticity in utterances with modal particles in the German language. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that modal particles are presented as integral components of analytical constructions. The results show that modal particles are grammaticalized units. In some types of syntactic constructions, they act as a mandatory component: their omission leads to a disruption of the grammatical integrity of the utterance. Modal particles serve to form the illocutionary type of utterance, reflecting the corresponding intention of the speaker. As a mandatory component, modal particles are used in syntactic constructions containing the Konjunktiv form to express an unreal wish, in pseudo-subordinate clauses with “dass”, and also in exclamatory sentences with a stressed finite verb form. If modal particles act as modifiers of the illocutionary type of utterance, i.e., the corresponding speech act, then they are attached to the mode of the sentence and determine the intention of the speaker. In this case, the omission of the particle does not violate the grammatical integrity of the utterance, but rather its inclusion in the communicative situation.

Virtual Biopsy for the Prediction of MGMT Promoter Methylation in Gliomas: A Comprehensive Review of Radiomics and Deep Learning Approaches Applied to MRI

Background/Objectives: The methylation status of the O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter in gliomas has emerged as a critical biomarker for prognosis and treatment response. Conventional methods for assessing MGMT promoter methylation, such as methylation-specific PCR, are invasive and require tissue sampling. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed in compliance with the updated PRISMA 2020 guidelines within electronic databases MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore. Search terms, including “MGMT”, “methylation”, “glioma”, “glioblastoma”, “machine learning”, “deep learning”, and “radiomics”, were adopted in various MeSH combinations. Original studies in the English, Italian, German, and French languages were considered for inclusion. Results: This review analyzed 34 studies conducted in the last six years, focusing on assessing MGMT methylation status using radiomics (RD), deep learning (DL), or combined approaches. These studies utilized radiological data from the public (e.g., BraTS, TCGA) and private institutional datasets. Sixteen studies focused exclusively on glioblastoma (GBM), while others included low- and high-grade gliomas. Twenty-seven studies reported diagnostic accuracy, with fourteen achieving values above 80%. The combined use of DL and RD generally resulted in higher accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, although some studies reported lower minimum accuracy compared to studies using a single model. Conclusions: The integration of RD and DL offers a powerful, non-invasive tool for precisely recognizing MGMT promoter methylation status in gliomas, paving the way for enhanced personalized medicine in neuro-oncology. The heterogeneity of study populations, data sources, and methodologies reflected the complexity of the pipeline and machine learning algorithms, which may require general standardization to be implemented in clinical practice.

Becoming a speaker of German as an L1 French speaker: elite multilingualism as a means of distinction in a globalised world

ABSTRACT This article presents an analysis of the relationship between language ideologies, elite multilingualism, and the identity of migrants with a focus on L2 speakers of German. Relying on interviews with the Francophone community in Berlin, I show that two main language ideologies circulate: ‘language as a skill’ vs ‘language as an identity marker’. While these ideologies may seem opposite, I argue that both are in fact shaped by dominant language ideologies around German being hard to learn. Even if the argumentation differs, in both cases, becoming a speaker of German enables the interviewees to profile themselves as different from other non German-speaking communities. Both ideologies are a reaction to English as a dominant language that can be traced back to early metadiscourses on foreign language learning in French schools. Ultimately, I suggest that both positions correspond to elite multilingualism in which learning and using German works as a means of distinction in a globalised world.

Supportive teachers, active students: Is teacher support a promising key to engaging students with and without migration backgrounds?

Students with and without migration backgrounds differ in terms of their achievement. One approach to reducing the gap between the two groups may be through equal participation in classroom discourse. Here, supportive teaching behavior can be particularly important for promoting student participation. Especially teacher support after a student has made a mistake, the so-called error culture in the classroom, could pave the way for students to become active participants. In this study, we analyzed whether error culture as a facet of teacher support could be a promising key to engaging students with and without migration backgrounds. To investigate the generalizability of the process across different subjects, we examined video data from 20 eighth-grade classrooms of academic-track secondary schools in both German Language Arts and Mathematics (N = 387 students). The results from nested hierarchical linear models indicate that error culture is related to student participation in German Language Arts but not in Mathematics. Interestingly, students with and without migration backgrounds did not differ in terms of their participation in classroom discourse. Furthermore, teachers’ positive error culture supported students’ participation irrespective of their migration background. Therefore, we encourage teachers to continue to pay attention to their error culture as this seems relevant for all students in the classroom.

Leon Pinsker’s Proto-Zionist Pamphlet Autoemancipation! in Sh. Y. Abramovitsh’s Skeptical Yiddish Reworking

Leon Pinsker’s pamphlet Autoemancipation! (1882), a seminal text of early Jewish nationalism, arguably established Zionism as a movement functioning in the German language. Soon after its publication, the renowned Yiddish writer Sh. Y. Abramovitch produced a Yiddish language version (1884). Abramovitsh’s rendering is above all an adaptation of German or Western European political and cultural concepts and vocabulary to the Jewish, Eastern European Yiddish-speaking milieu, with changes in vocabulary, rhetorical strategies, and cultural references. Abramovitsh reworked the pamphlet according to his own thinking on the plight of Jews in the Russian Empire and a possible nationalist solution, as exemplified in his contemporary novels. In the article, I compare the language in which several socio-political concepts are expressed in the two texts in order to determine whether Abramovitsh, in his ideological skepticism, also subtly adapts the content of the nationalist thesis.

Узуальная метафора как средство репрезентации концепта-регулятива ABNEIGUNG в современном немецком языке

The purpose of the study is to determine the content of the value component of the regulative concept ABNEIGING (ANTIPATHY), expressed by the usual metaphors representing the conceptual metaphor ‘Abneigung ist ein Naturwesen’ (Antipathy is a natural organism). The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, for the first time, the value characteristics of the regulative concept ABNEIGUNG are described on the basis of the German language and linguistic metaphors that verbalize the conceptual metaphor ‘Abneigung ist ein Naturwesen’ are classified according to the level of linguistic hierarchy and stylistic significance. The article examines the physiological and emotional components of the emotion “antipathy”, justifies the choice of its mental representation – a regulative concept related to universal, cultural, nonparametric emotional regulative concepts. Linguistic metaphors explicating the conceptual metaphor ‘Abneigung ist ein Naturwesen’ are analyzed. As a result, it is determined that the distinctive characteristic of the regulative concept ABNEIGUNG is its pronounced value component, represented by rationalistic assessments – utilitarian (useful – harmful, correct – incorrect) and teleological (effective – ineffective). Based on the analysis of linguistic metaphors explicating the conceptual metaphor ‘Abneigung ist ein Naturwesen’, it has been established that they are metaphors-words, metaphors-phrases, metaphors-sentences, according to the type of stylistic significance – customary metaphors.

Is Word Order Responsive to Morphology? Disentangling Cause and Effect in Morphosyntactic Change in Five Western European Languages.

This study examines the relationship between morphological complexity and word order rigidity, addressing a gap in the literature regarding causality in linguistic changes. While prior research suggests that the loss of inflectional morphology correlates with the adoption of fixed word order, this study shifts the focus from correlation to causation. By employing Kolmogorov complexity as a measure of linguistic complexity alongside Granger Causality to examine causal relationships, we analyzed data from Germanic and Romance languages over time. Our findings indicate that changes in morphological complexity are statistically more likely to cause shifts in word order rigidity than vice versa. The causal asymmetry is robustly borne out in Dutch and German, though waveringly in English, as well as in French and Italian. Nowhere, however, is the asymmetry reversed. Together, these results can be interpreted as supporting the idea that a decline in morphological complexity causally precedes a rise in syntactic complexity, though further investigation into the underlying factors contributing to the differing trends across languages is needed.

Error Analysis in Written Tasks of Albanian-Speaking GFL Learners at B1 Level: Common Types and Causes

Understanding common errors that students of a foreign language make and their causes can enhance our ability to adjust teaching methodologies. This paper aimed to analyze errors that Albanian students of German language and literature make when writing texts in German as a foreign language. This qualitative and quantitative analysis set out to identify and classify errors and find the causes of errors. The study is based on 100 students of German at the B1 level, including participants from language schools and first-year students from the German Department at the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”. Students were required to submit written texts for analysis. The analysis of these texts was used to address the following research question: What are the typical and recurrent errors made by learners of German as a foreign language (GFL) and what are their causes? The analysis of written texts showed that errors occur at all linguistic levels, with grammatical errors being the most common, followed by orthography and punctuation and syntax. Most errors arose from interference between the native Albanian and the foreign language English, followed by competence and overgeneralization.

Pengembangan Pembelajaran Menggunakan Media Aplikasi Quiziz untuk Menambah Minat Belajar Bahasa Jerman pada Tema Familie

The development of digital-based learning media on the Quizizz application to improve German language skills on a family theme includes the use of the Quizizz platform as a means to improve understanding and comprehension of German reading. This application aims to make learning German easier by providing family-themed interactive tests and exercises. The main aim of this development is to improve understanding and knowledge of the German language through a digital-based approach that allows students to learn independently and interactively.

Prohibiting Babel-A call for professional remote interpreting services in pre-operation anaesthesia information.

Language barriers within clinical settings pose a threat to patient safety. As a potential impediment to understanding, they hinder the process of obtaining informed consent and uptake of critical medical information. This study investigates the impact of the current use of interpreters, with a particular focus on of engaging laypersons as interpreters, rather than professional interpreters potentially affecting patient safety. A further objective is to explore the reliability of phone-based telemedicine in terms of the retention of important medical facts. In three groups (N per group = 30), we compared how using lay or professional interpreters affected non-German speaking patients' subjectively perceived understanding (understood vs. not understood) and recollection (recollected vs. not recollected) of information about general anaesthesia. Proficient German speaking patients served as the control group. Statistical analyses (χ2 tests and binomial) were calculated to show differences between and within the groups. All three groups indicated similar, high self-reported levels of having understood the medical information provided. This was in stark contrast to the assessed objective recollection data. In the lay interpreter group, recollection of anaesthesia facts was low; only around half of participants recalled specific facts. For patients supported by professional interpreters, their recollection of facts about anaesthesia was significantly enhanced and elevated to the same level of the control group (fluent in German). Moreover, for these patients, providing information by means of phone-based telemedicine before anaesthesia yielded high levels of understanding and recollection of anaesthesia facts. Phone-based telemedicine is a safe and reliable method of communication in the professional interpreter group and German speaking control group, but not in the lay interpreter group. Compared to lay interpreters, professional interpreters significantly improve patients' uptake of critical information about general anaesthesia, thus highlighting the importance of professional interpreters for patient safety and informed consent.

Blue as a Component of Collocations and Idioms in German and Bosnian Languages in Print Media and Electronic Publications

This paper presents a contrastive analysis of idioms and collocations featuring the color blue in German and Bosnian print media and electronic publications. The aim of the analysis was to identify differences at the morphological, syntactic, and lexical levels, as well as to determine cultural differences between the two languages. The corpus included 22 examples: five collocations in German, seven in Bosnian, three idioms in German, and four in Bosnian. The corpus also included compounds as translation equivalents (e.g., “blue-collar” and “blue-collar worker”), as German increasingly relies on such structures. The paper notes instances where concepts were directly translated from English (e.g., “blue wall,” “Blue Monday”) and identifies examples without equivalents in the other language (e.g., “blue book,” “blue spring,” “blue phone”). The contrastive analysis aimed to assess the extent to which collocations and idioms involving the color blue align with their counterparts in the target language. The results show that the meanings and contexts in which collocations and idioms with the component of blue appear largely coincide. In most examples, the color blue carries positive connotations, symbolizing peace, security, agreement, neatness, reliability, clarity, justice, and empathy. A small number of examples suggest negative connotations, where blue can symbolize suppressed melancholy (e.g., “Blue Monday,” “blue phone”). The analysis demonstrated a significant influence of social factors, culture, and tradition on the formation of new collocations and idioms involving the color blue in the language. Newer, modern lifestyles (“Blaue Nacht” / “blue night,” “das Blaue Herz” / “blue heart”), migration (“blaue Karte” / “blue card”), social status (“blue-collar worker”), and various social and political situations (“der Notruf für die Seele” / “blue phone,” “Blue Monday,” “blaue Welle” / “bluewave”) have contributed to the creation of new collocations and idioms. We can conclude that social order, culture, and historical circumstances play a significant role in the creation of new collocations and idioms featuring the color blue. In most cases, these expressions carry similar connotations, indicating the universality of blue as a symbol. This can be attributed to the geographic proximity of the countries and their belonging to a similar cultural sphere. The paper demonstrates that new collocations and idioms continue to emerge in both languages. Examples such as “Blue Monday,” “blue card,” and “blue wave” illustrate the global influence of modern lifestyles, trends, migration, and social and political changes, all contributing to the creation of new expressions. The conclusions drawn in this paper apply only to the analyzed corpus.

Intercultural Communicative Competence and Its Cultivation Based on Machine Learning

With the construction of the national discourse power, the international communication of German language has also attracted the attention of the public, and its own communication attributes and characteristics have also become a hot topic around the world. A machine learning development process includes operations such as data preprocessing, feature engineering, model design, and super parameter optimization. Changes in the configuration of each operation may affect the final quality of the model. Nor is it mainly the problem of teachers’ teaching, but the communication barrier caused by cultural differences. We can see that there are still many obstacles and misunderstandings in language, thought, cross-cultural communication and knowledge in many communication occasions between China and Germany. Through reviewing and summarizing the previous studies on intercultural communication, this paper analyzes the current situation of intercultural communication studies, points out the problems existing in the current research, and tries to put forward the cultivation methods of intercultural communication.

ІГРОВА ФОРМА НАВЧАННЯ ЯК СПОСІБ МОТИВАЦІЇ ДО ВИВЧЕННЯ НІМЕЦЬКОЇ МОВИ

The article focuses on the game form of teaching German as a way to motivate students to learn it. The main competences and skills, formed during the game (communicative, cognitive, emotional, social, motor, mental), are investigated. The game in educational and pedagogical contexts is described, the game, learning and cognition for students of different age groups are compared, as well as the great interest in the game even outside the classroom. The problems of gamification in various spheres of human activity are outlined. The importance of the game is noted with reference to scientific sources, the relevance of its study, which dates back to ancient times. The main characteristics of the game are presented, the conditions necessary for the successful use of games in the classroom (favourable learning environment, silence, elimination of stress factors, teacher's behaviour, duration, completeness of the process, etc.) and the use of the game in the psychological context in general are described. The game is described as a motivating factor from the point of view of the player, when it should be enjoyable, because this effect contributes to the most beneficial learning of something new, often subconsciously. Particular attention is paid to the game as an intrinsic motivation to learn a language, when a learner does not have to learn through external motivating factors, but wants to learn through his/her own intrinsic motivation. The study presents the main types of exercises used in the form of games in German language classes to train the main language skills: speaking, writing, listening, reading, as well as grammar and basic soft competences. A game is a way of presenting a complex topic in an easy, unconscious way and transferring/acquiring new competences. The main types of games are outlined (dominoes, memos, cards to match an image with a word in German, bingo, Black Peter, autograph hunting, class walk, class survey, detective game, riddles, taboos, pantomime, etc.)