<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This study analyses the role of the Romanian language in Christian Hallers novel <italic>Die verschluckte Musik</italic> (2008). The Romanian words are linked to the content and symbolical context, and also to intimacy or strangeness. Single words and expressions are connected to memories and rituals. For the family residing in Bucharest they are everyday elements. By migration they become cultural artefacts, are included in family stories. In the new home country Switzerland, the Romanian language is an element of intimacy. The language is also a method of exclusion and dissociation. Ruth, the first-person narratorʼs mother, is excluded in Bucharest until she learns the national language. In the Swiss environment the already familiar Romanian language is for Ruth a method of dissociation. For the first-person narrator, the few Romanian words are details connected to gastronomic culture which distinguish him from the Swiss environment. While travelling through Bucharest, the Romanian language becomes a method of exclusion, it is connected to an area that was not attainable for a long period. His journey updates the language for him.</p>
</abstract>

This study analyses the role of the Romanian language in Christian Hallers novel Die verschluckte Musik (2008). The Romanian words are linked to the content and symbolical context, and also to intimacy or strangeness. Single words and expressions are connected to memories and rituals. For the family residing in Bucharest they are everyday elements. By migration they become cultural artefacts, are included in family stories. In the new home country Switzerland, the Romanian language is an element of intimacy. The language is also a method of exclusion and dissociation. Ruth, the first-person narratorʼs mother, is excluded in Bucharest until she learns the national language. In the Swiss environment the already familiar Romanian language is for Ruth a method of dissociation. For the first-person narrator, the few Romanian words are details connected to gastronomic culture which distinguish him from the Swiss environment. While travelling through Bucharest, the Romanian language becomes a method of exclusion, it is connected to an area that was not attainable for a long period. His journey updates the language for him.

Aspekte der Mehrsprachigkeit in Christian Hallers Roman <italic>Die verschluckte Musik</italic>

Germanistische Beiträge

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Aspekte der Mehrsprachigkeit in Christian Hallers Roman 

This study analyses the role of the Romanian language in Christian Hallers novel Die verschluckte Musik (2008). The Romanian words are linked to the content...

Aspekte der Mehrsprachigkeit in Christian Hallers Roman Die verschluckte Musik

Publié en ligne: 01 févr. 2020

Pages: 62 - 77

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gb-2019-0020

Mots clés
Christian Haller, language, identity, migration, Bucharest, Switzerland, exclusion

© 2019 Andrea Sczuka, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Aspekte der Mehrsprachigkeit in Christian Hallers Roman Die verschluckte Musik

Publié en ligne: 01 févr. 2020

Pages: 62 - 77

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gb-2019-0020

Mots clésChristian Haller, language, identity, migration, Bucharest, Switzerland, exclusion

© 2019 Andrea Sczuka, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
Christian Haller, language, identity, migration, Bucharest, Switzerland, exclusion