Sprachverhältnisse in Siebenbürgen auf der germanistischen Überholspur
Language Relations in Transylvania: German Studies in the Fast Lane

Summary/Abstract: Based on the current language situation and the current presence of German in Sibiu, the article outlines the potential of three fields of research that are fruitful for the exploration of German in the context of historical multilingualism. Linguistically relevant questions focus primarily on the dual status of German – supra-regional lingua franca of an autochthonous minority and a prestige variety for non-native speakers. From a variationist linguistic perspective, it is therefore important to describe the profile of Romanian German as a regional standard variety in more detail. In view of the linguistic, ethnic, and denominational changes in the language community, the increased shift towards bilingualism, and the decline of German as a language of schooling, the status of German in educational settings must also be reflected upon, and the special requirements for the acquisition of German as a language of education must be recorded. Research into the historically determined linguistic diversity of multi-ethnic areas and thus the coexistence of German and other languages (Romanian as the official language and Hungarian as the numerically most important minority language) in the linguistic landscape of Transylvania and in educational contexts is also relevant from the perspective of linguistic landscape and schoolscape research. Thus, the explanations outline the contribution of various disciplines to the research of language relations in Transylvania as a traditional settlement area of the German minority in the context of historically grown multilingualism.

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