HERAUSFORDERUNGEN DER ZWEISPRACHIGKEIT: DOPPELTE HALBSPRACHIGKEIT BEI JUGENDLICHEN MIT MIGRATIONSHINTERGRUND
THE CHALLENGES OF BILINGUALISM: DOUBLE SEMI-LINGUALISM AMONG IMMIGRANT YOUTH

Summary/Abstract: In context of my master thesis regarding „Kiezdeutsch & Rinkebysvenska. Eine Studie über die multiethnische Jugendsprache und ihre literarische Darstellung in der deutschen und schwedischen Literatur“(„Kiezdeutsch & Rinkebysvenska. A study on multiethnic youth language and its literary representation in the German and Swedish literature)” I have treated and analyzed the aspect of the assessment of new linguistic varieties known as Kiezdeutsch and Rinkebysvenska as a sign of double semilingualism, where I wanted to show that this multiethnic sociolects are not a sign of decay of the language, but a conscious way of speaking of young people. The term of „doppelte Halbsprachigkeit” (double semilingualism) is lately gaining pretty much importance in the open discussions about bilingualism and second language acquisition, although its connotations are often misinterpreted and lead to controversies. The most common is the misconception, which in the meantime already became a myth, that children who grew up speaking two languages develop in the majority of the cases “doppelte Halbsprachigkeit”, meaning that they end up with the incapacity of speaking any of the two languages “correctly”, properly. It must be said though, that there is no objective fundament that can prove this situation, which leads me to another conclusion. It is merely so, that the explication for this vision seems to have to do with a wrong appreciation of languages and language diversity. The phenomenon of “doppelte Halbsprachigkeit” reflects much more a social reality – dispraise and despise of a certain way of using the language – than a real violation of the linguistic rules and conventions of the consecrated grammar and vocabulary of the standard languages. Bilingualism nowadays should not be considered as being a threat or a problem; I would rather describe it as an opportunity, as a chance for the development of a human being and for the success of the intercultural dialogue.

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