Le vocabulaire des adolescents germanophones au XVIIe siècle: Gallicismes, italianismes et contact de langues

Abstract

This article analyses the use of Gallicisms and Italianisms in 17th-century German private correspondence, based on the example of the letters of the Endorfer family. From the imperial city of Augsburg, the two sons, Friedrich and Hans, received commercial training in Lucca and Lyon and maintained contact with their father by writing letters to him. Based on these letters, the analysis sheds light on the lexical particularities and their choice in a situation of language contact, by analysing how the two brothers integrated elements of French and Italian into their writings. It appears that the use of Gallicisms and Italianisms, often marked by a script switch, represents a complex phenomenon with multiple reasons: deliberate learning, influences of linguistic fashions, interferences as well as proof of the acquisition of foreign languages.