Soldier language

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Soldiers language referred to by soldiers usual jargon . It is to be distinguished from the command language and the military terminology.

During the Second World War, staff officers or generals were called "caterpillar tractors" because of the plaited shoulder pieces on their uniforms reminiscent of caterpillars (Army Inspector of the Austrian Armed Forces from 1930, Sigmund Knaus)

features

The "soldier's language" is a special language developed by team soldiers . In contrast to combat and command language, it is used unofficially. The harder soldiers perceive everyday military life, the more pronounced and differentiated is the linguistic rebellion.

The soldier's language includes: neoplasms, coining new words and word meanings, dialect , vulgar colloquial language , Rotwelsch , professional languages ​​(such as hunter's language), school and student language, etc.

The soldiers' language is used to make everyday work easier with humor . It can promote the feeling of belonging to a group and reduce frustration. Topics in the language of soldiers are life in the barracks , training, military chaplaincy , vacation, leisure activities, relationships with the opposite sex, but also death .

During the Cold War , especially in the Bundeswehr , compounds were formed with the first member " NATO ". The combat helmet was called "NATO Wrinkle Free". The soldiers of the German Navy were "NATO fishermen". "NATO cement" is the name of the mashed potatoes based on potato flakes. NATO was also used as an acronym by the soldiers : "No action, talk only", "Never ask the officer", "No action, travel only".

Another important issue in the Cold War was military service. The conscripts in the Federal Republic of Germany “bogged down with the federal government”. The NVA soldiers in the GDR had to “go to the flag” as military service, “to the spade” as “ construction soldiers ”, colloquially “Spatis”. Word creations arose in the NVA from the particularly strong hierarchy among the conscripts. Depending on the quarters of discharge, they were “red arrows”, “vice” and “ reservists ”. There were derogatory names for new recruits such as "Springpups", "Rotarsch", "Glatter", "Spruz" or "Hot nozzle".

The language of the soldiers sometimes reacts directly to current situations and events. Soldier language elements, terms and expressions can be very short-lived and are often limited to a small region or a single military type. Today foreign assignments are a permanent topic. Politicians and journalists therefore go on "Jukuhu trips" as "battlefield tourists". The tanned skin on areas that are not uniformly covered is called a "NATO tan".

There are differences between the Air Force , Navy and Army . There is a marine slang in the Navy, which is also called “Decksdeutsch”. “Hiring” is also used in the context of wooing women. In civilian life, for some members of the Navy, the doors are “bulkheads”, the windows “bulleyes” or the second floor of a house is the “B-deck”.

What all variants have in common is a “peculiar visual power, wit and humor”. Older words in particular also entered the general vocabulary. In the course of time, many buzzwords emerged, which soon disappeared again. Many new words and metaphors were also used in general language and are now used independently of the temporal and military backgrounds, for example “bite the grass”, “ duds ” or “ Zapfenstreich ”.

Further examples of soldiers' language are military abbreviations: "AküFiBw" (German Army abbreviation frenzy), "agfa" ("everything smoothly for the ass"), "Haggi" ( corporal ).

Influence of women

The influence of women on the language of the soldiers, which is dominated by men, was and is not insignificant. In earlier times the rifle was seen as a substitute for women. That is why it was given the name “soldier's bride” or “lady of the heart”. The topic of women also found its way into the conversations of the soldiers, mostly with derogatory connotations: "Specialist: easily accessible girl who is considered a specialist in practical sexuality", "S-1-Kieze: civilian employees in the office", "Regimental mattresses: women who volunteered for service in the NVA “For a long time, the language of the soldiers was“ pure male language ”, which mocked thought patterns of love or closeness that were perceived as female. A gradual change in the "soldier's language" took place with the admission of women in all military areas through the judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2000 ( see also Kreil decision ). This ruling was supplemented by the Act on Enforcing Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of November 30, 2001 and the Act on Enforcing Equal Opportunities for Soldiers in the Bundeswehr of December 27, 2004 (see Women in the Bundeswehr ).

These legal regulations should create not only professional but also linguistic equality by means of the suffix -in , for example commanding officer in (a movement , compare female job titles in Europe ). This led to paired listings that ran counter to military parlance, which was designed for simplicity and functionality. Therefore, in 2009 with the G1 / A1 information, a guideline on linguistic equality of soldiers was created. Both names (pair form) of feminine and masculine designations should be used "only in a targeted manner [...] and overall sparingly". Plural forms such as “the disciplinary superiors” and gender-neutral expressions such as “the troop leadership” should be used. Exceptions are ranks; Function, training, job titles that contain the rank designation (e.g. -bootsman) or end with -offizier or -NCO; contain the addition “on duty” or “the guard” (e.g. “mate of the guard”) and compound terms that do not designate a person (“artillery song”, “reservist jug”).

Since women form a minority within the armed forces, they sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously adopt the values ​​of the majority. Many women soldiers therefore consciously have their weapons "on hand". They even adopt male gestures and habits. Some soldiers use vulgar language like “ass down” or are not afraid of disrespectful expressions for other soldiers such as “women” or “women”. However, there are also women soldiers who are aware of their special value for the army, which is why they do not hide their femininity. In general, the presence of women has the effect of reducing the number of rhetoric , insults and vulgar language as part of the "soldier's language".

Historical background and state of research in Germany

The soldier language has its historical roots at the time of the Thirty Years War and developed under the mercenaries of that time . It is described as being related to the Rotwelsch. Other elements came from the dialect and the boys' language .

The linguistics dealt for the first time in 1900 with the language of the soldiers. In addition to the soldier's language, all other so-called special languages such as student language and Rotwelsch came into the focus of science. The occupation with the language of the soldiers was marked by militarism . The linguistics of the time differentiated accordingly between technical language, regulations and argot .

During the time of National Socialism , the language of the soldiers was seen on the one hand as the language of command and on the other as the language of the military organization. The language was differentiated from the so-called "commission language", what is understood today as the language of the soldiers.

Also examined was the “soldier's German” within the German Bundeswehr, which was initially shaped by the national language of the First and Second World Wars , but also by the spread of Anglicisms through contacts with NATO. A specific usage of language also developed in the NVA and was largely shaped by the hierarchical levels.

See also

literature

The German Imperium

time of the nationalsocialism

Federal Republic of Germany

  • Heinz Küpper: From Anschiss to twittering vegetables. The German soldier's German from A – Z. License issue. Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-02225-4 ( Heyne books 1-6630)
  • Christian Dewitz: Y-Travel. The little Bundeswehr advisor. Heel, Königswinter 2001, ISBN 3-89365-928-5
  • Ariane Slater: military language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development. Rombach, Freiburg i.Br. 2015, ISBN 978-3-7930-9817-1

GDR

  • Jürgen Gebauer, Egon Friedrich Krenz: Maritime Dictionary. Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-327-00679-2
  • Klaus-Peter Möller: The true E. dictionary of the GDR soldiers' language. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-931836-22-3

Web links

Wiktionary: Soldier language  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Directory: German / soldier language
Wiktionary: Directory: German / soldier language of the Swiss Army

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrike Haß-Zumkehr: German dictionaries - focus of language and cultural history . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-084918-9 , p. 195 ( google.de [accessed April 17, 2019]).
  2. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 227.
  3. ^ A b Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 228.
  4. ↑ a b c d Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 229.
  5. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 229 f.
  6. ↑ a b c Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 230.
  7. ↑ Friedrich Stroh: Handbook of Germanic Philology . Unchanged photomechanical reprint, Berlin, 1952. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1985, ISBN 3-11-010497-0 , p. 383 .
  8. ^ Karlheinz Jakob : The importance of the transitory group languages ​​for language change . In: Heinrich Löffler , Karlheinz Jakob, Bernhard Kelle (eds.): Text type, speaker group, communication area. Studies on the German language in the past and present. Festschrift for Hugo Steger on his 65th birthday . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1994, ISBN 3-11-014305-4 , p. 197–207, here p. 203 .
  9. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 231.
  10. ↑ a b c Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development (=  individual publications on military history, Volume 49). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 233.
  11. ↑ ECJ, judgment of January 11, 2000, Az. C-285/98, full text .
  12. ^ Ariane Slater: Military language: The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development (=  individual publications on military history, Volume 49). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 234.
  13. ^ A b Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development (=  individual publications on military history, Volume 49). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 235.
  14. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 237.
  15. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 238.
  16. ^ Ariane Slater: Military Language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development . ( Individual writings on military history 49.). Rombach, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, p. 237 ff.
  17. ^ A b c d Georg-Maria Meyer: Rhetorical-stylistic characteristics of the language of the military. In: Ulla Fix , Andreas Gardt, Joachim Knape (Ed.): Rhetoric and Stylistics. = Rhetoric and Stylistics (= Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Studies. = Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science. Vol. 31, Halbbd. 2). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-017857-9 , pp. 2274-2289, doi: 10.1515 / 9783110213713.1.7.2274 .
  18. ^ Karlheinz Jakob: The importance of the transitory group languages ​​for language change . In: Heinrich Löffler, Karlheinz Jakob, Bernhard Kelle (eds.): Text type, speaker group, communication area. Studies on the German language in the past and present. Festschrift for Hugo Steger on his 65th birthday . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1994, ISBN 3-11-014305-4 , p. 197–207, here p. 201 .