LOEWE focus on minority studies and social distance
Social factors have an influence on linguistic communication in both ingroup and outgroup interactions. Language variation depends on social circumstances such as “who speaks which language to whom and when”.
In this study, the following question, which is fundamental for intergroup relations, will be empirically investigated using the case study of immigrants living in Germany: In what way does language use contribute to identification with and demarcation from different groups? This project is based on theoretical assumptions from the field of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), which, on the basis of general social psychological concepts, enables a comprehensive understanding of the significance of linguistic action for intergroup perceptions and contributes to the explanation of divergent motivations for communication in intergroup situations.
This sub-project will show whether and to what extent the assumptions of CAT can be transferred to the constellation of immigrants living in Germany and the autochthonous population. Whether the intergroup communication shows approval, disapproval or neutrality, which action strategy is present in each case and whether this is perceived as such by the “other” and what the consequences are, will be investigated on the basis of the speech acts of both groups. Such a multi-group design can be expected to yield informative reconstructions of the mutual perceptions of the members of different groups. The evaluation of the data obtained through empirical research is to be implemented in the form of a qualitative analysis.