Abstract
Since about 2000, the emergence of so-called ‘multiethnolects’ has been observed among adolescents in German-speaking Switzerland; however, a systematic description of these varieties is lacking at present. The few existing perception studies of multiethnolects in other European countries are usually based on two or more predeter-mined groups that are compared. This paper investigates which labels are used for multiethnolectal Zurich German and how this way of speaking is perceived by adoles cents; we adopt a perceptual sociolinguistics approach which focuses on the conceptuali zations of lay people rather than on those of linguists.In a rating experiment, 40 adolescents listened to short speech samples of 48 pupils recorded in two different schools in the city of Zurich and were asked to rate the speakers on a 7-point Likert scale according to how multi ethnolectal they sounded (not at all – very strongly). The results yielded a perceptual continuum rather than a clear-cut binary catego rization [±multiethnolectal]. A smaller follow-up experiment with 12 adult raters (using the same stimuli) yielded a highly significant correlation between the mean rating scores of the two groups of raters.
Morand, Marie-Anne