Reinterpretation (linguistics)
In linguistics, a reinterpretation refers to the use of an already existing word or expression in a language in a significantly different meaning. This meaning can supplement or replace the previous meaning. The reinterpretation is a special process of designation . It belongs to the area of new creation in language development.
The reason for a reinterpretation can be that a new concept arises for which there is still no word. In English there is the word “ file ” with the old meanings “file”, “row”, “file” and “file folder”, which was given the new meaning “ file ” with the introduction of computers in data centers . There was initially no likelihood of confusion because computers were not yet featured in workshops or offices. With the introduction of computers in offices, the desire arose to differentiate between “ computer file ” and “ paper file ”. With these new creations, the previous reinterpretation was put into perspective.
The reason for a reinterpretation can be that a terminology is omitted and the expression is used again or further for an apparently similar thing or a similar process. In today's colloquial language, the expression “blue-green” stands for the unauthorized absence from work. According to a legend, it was originally used to describe a period of rest during blue dyeing, during which the textiles had to dry and the dyers could take a break. (See Blue Monday !)
The reason for a reinterpretation can be that a statement should be understandable for a closed user group, but not understandable for all others. This is occasionally the case with youth languages and consistently with group languages such as Rotwelschen . In order to avoid conspicuous new creations, everyday words are given secret other meanings so that someone who overhears part of the conversation hardly notices that something essential is being hidden from them. In the Kofferaner musician language , the hometown is called Schtotsem. In German it's called suitcase . Several places in the area around Kofferen (or Schtotsem) are called Stotzheim . Clients were pretended that a busy - and therefore respected and expensive - band was heading towards their next engagement or that they would come from the previous one by disguising trips home to Kofferen with the term Schtotsem.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Honnen : Secret languages in the Rhineland . A documentation of the Rotwelsch dialects in Bell , Breyell , Kofferen , Neroth , Speicher and Stotzheim (= Rhenish dialects . Volume 10 ). 2nd Edition. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7927-1728-X , Part IV: Kofferen, p. 100 (with a CD).