English in Danish and the Danes' English

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    Abstract

    This article is based primarily on a large-scale investigation into the socio-
    psychological mechanisms behind the influence of English on Danish. After
    refuting the commonly held set of beliefs holding that the influence of English
    can be controlled by the Danish educational institutions (“English from
    above”), the article first gives a brief presentation of Danish social domains
    on which English is having a particularly strong impact, and an overview of
    the linguistic manifestations of this influence on the Danish language. It then
    describes the sociolinguistic forces at work in the way English is introduced
    “from below,” through the Anglo-American youth subcultures in Denmark.
    Codeswitching to English in these subcultures is seen to be a value symbol on
    a par with subcultural styles of clothing and music, being a marker of identity
    and group solidarity. Thus, through peer-group norm enforcement, codeswit-
    ching to English becomes an integrated aspect of youth language in
    Denmark. As a school subject, English is highly prestigious as a key to
    participation in the internationalization process. The importance of learning
    English is recognized even by those whose knowledge of English is limited or
    nonexistent (the English-have-nots), though the latter are made to experi-
    ence some of the problems of the functionally illiterate by the increasing use
    of English words and passages in Danish texts.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TidsskriftInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language
    Vol/bind2003
    Udgave nummer159
    Sider (fra-til)109-126
    ISSN0165-2516
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 2003

    Bibliografisk note

    Særnummer af The Sociolinguistics of Denmark and Danish

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