Gender, Register and the Multilingual Repertoire: Lexical Versus Grammatical Features in Namibian German

Abstract

The present study investigates gender differences in the use of Namibian German versus Standard German in multilingual German-speakers raised in Namibia. Based on data from the DNam corpus of spoken Namibian German, the study compares the frequency of use of Namibian-German lexical and grammatical variants and their Standard German equivalents in male versus female speakers. For the use of lexical features, clear gender differences emerged, with male speakers producing significantly more specific Namibian German variants than female speakers. For grammatical features, however, no gender differences were found. The observed gender differences for lexical features were significantly stronger in informal than in formal communicative settings. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical accounts of the role of gender in language use.