Von ›Gastarbeiterdeutsch‹ zu ›Kiezdeutsch‹

Under the term Kiezdeutsch, there has been intense discussion over the past ten years about the origins of the German multiethnolect used by young people with and without a migration background. Are the typical features age-related stylizations? Or is youth language evolving into a new dialect of German? So far, there has only been consensus that the multiethnolect does not represent a continuation of the learner characteristics of the guest worker generation.

A comparison of seven features across more than 50 studies from the last 50 years makes this premise questionable. The present volume provides an explanation for the variation in morphosyntax that aligns with the steps of koinéization and takes into account the collective language shift to German: Over several generations and life stages, there is a transmission, reduction, and functionalization of features, with ethnic boundaries increasingly blurring.