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Formula of the information-theoretic concept of information entropy. Picture via Google.com.

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To examine the phonetic realization of highly frequent words in English, I chose (popular) short videos on YouTube.

To investigate the phonetic realization of the most frequent English words, I checked the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). According to COCA, the 15 most frequent words in English are (in that order): the, be, and, of, a, in, to, have, it, I, that, for, you, and he. A common feature of these highly frequent words is that they are all rather short words which might indicate a relationship not only to word frequency but also to predictability.
The most distinct  phonetic realization of these highly frequent words I noticed was the reduction of words. This happened for words like 'of' (COCA rank 4) in examples like kinda (kind of), lotta (lot of), or sorta (sort of); 'have' (COCA rank 8) in examples like coulda (could have), or musta (must have); or 'you' (COCA rank 14) in examples like I betcha (bet you), or howdja (how did you).

Since I find psycholinguistics particularly interesting, I have concerned myself with the topic of word frequency a couple of times. A lot of research discusses how high frequency words can have a facilitatory effect in speech comprehension as well as speech production tasks, and how it can shorten reaction times. Further, word frequency was and can still be considered a good indicator for reduction in speech.
However, another promising relationship worth considering is the one between reduced speech and information theory (Piantadosi et al., 2011). Many reduced words are highly predictable meaning that they don’t carry a high information load. Furthermore, high predictability or low informativeness lead to higher speech rates which could be a reason why word reduction in spontaneous speech is very common, i.e., to communicate fast and efficiently.
However, this could bring up the question of mutual intelligibility, i.e., whether reduced speech and the accompanying faster speech rate has an inhibitory effect on listeners. According to a study conducted to investigate this question, the recognition of reduced word forms is highly dependent on phonetic as well as syntactic and semantic context (Ernestus et al., 2002). Especially when there is a large difference between the reduced form and the canonical form which is considered the most accessible word form stored in the mental lexicon, word recognition is problematic for listeners (Ernestus et al., 2002). Speakers and listeners have the common goal of successful communication. To achieve that goal, studies show that it is important to uphold a certain information rate. To ensure that, the information-theoretic concept of channel capacity has to be considered, i.e., how much information can be transmitted through a communicative channel without exceeding its capacity and how to compensate for cases where the information load would be too high (Priva, 2016). Again, this shows a strong relationship between reduction in speech, informativeness, and speech rate. Whenever there is a high information rate, speakers tend to slow down their speech rate and avoid reduced word forms, but they prefer reduced speech and a faster speech rate whenever words carry little information (Priva, 2016).

Conclusively, although word frequency has been linked to reduction in speech, I think informativeness is a much more promising predictor for reduced speech.

Ernestus, M., et al., 2002. ‘The Recognition of Reduced Word Forms’. Brain and Language, 81, pp. 162–173.

Piantadosi, S.T., et al., 2011. ‘Word lengths are optimized for efficient communication’. PNAS, vol. 108, no. 9, pp. 3526-3529.

Priva, U.C., 2016. ‘Not so fast: Fast speech correlates with lower lexical and structural information.’ Cognition, vol. 160, pp. 27-34.

COCA ranking of the most frequent words in English via Wikipedia.

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Depiction of emotional attachment. Picture via Google.com.

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Since I grew up bilingually, this post almost writes itself. Most Greeks I know and talk to are second or third generation immigrants who speak German as well as Greek because they were raised bilingually. When we are talking to each other, there is lots of code-switching, simply because none of us speaks Greek nearly as well as German. We often chose to talk in Greek because if feels more natural and because people outside our group won’t be able to understand us (most of the time). That works pretty well for us whenever our conversations can be regarded as small talk. However, whenever we are discussing topics that include very specific vocabulary, we all have the same problem – we are missing the right vocabulary in Greek but it is right there in German. So, a conversation of ours will include sentences like: «Έκανες κιόλας TÜV στο αμάξι;» (“Did you do your car’s TÜV (main inspection), yet?”),
«Πρέπει να μας ήρθε γράμμα απ΄την Finanzamt» (“We must have gotten a letter from the tax office”), or,
«Πήγα πρώτα στον Hausarzt και μετα μ‘έστειλε στον HNO» (“First, I went to my GP and then they send me to an ENT specialist”).

I have experienced many other bilinguals do the same thing as well. Since I’ve been riding the train for years, I have heard all kinds of different people talking on the phone in their native language but inserting German words here and there (especially when talking about administrative offices for some reason).
So, in my personal experience, a lack of vocabulary is probably the most common reason for code-switching.

However, I can think of one other situation where I noticed code-switching. When we were children, whenever our mom used to scold us, she would always do it in Greek. I asked her why she thinks that was (since we spoke German rather than Greek at home) but she couldn’t really give me a reason for that.
Since I wrote my BA thesis about bilingual speakers’ emotional attachment to their first language, I’ve spent many hours reading up on the influence our emotions have on the language we choose to express ourselves in, so, I would assume that the emotional attachment my mom has to her first language, Greek, could be the reason why she code-switched when she was angry about something we did.

Moreover, I remembered one interview I read while writing my thesis of a bilingual speaker whose native language was Mandarin but who grew up in the states. The interviewee stated that in her first language, expressing feelings of love wasn’t very common, especially from parents to their children and vice versa. So, whenever their mom felt like telling them she loved them, she would choose to do so in English rather than Mandarin. This was something the interviewee eventually ended up doing as well.
So, another common reason for code-switching can be the emotional attachment, or - like in the second example - the emotional distance multilingual speakers have to one of the languages they speak.

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A cartoon depicting the danger of dialects becoming extinct by Stuttgart based illustrator Peter Ruge. Picture via stuttgarter-nachrichten.de.

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„Schwäbisch kann ein Karrierekiller sein“ – this is how Rahel Zingg headlined her article for WELT in 2018. When reading up on Topic 9: Language Attitudes and Ideologies, the first thing that came into my mind was a teacher I had in 11th and 12th grade for LK Deutsch who had a very distinct Swabian accent which always felt kind of wrong considering his profession. So, you could say, my first intention when reading Zingg article’s title was to agree (although my teacher’s accent clearly did not kill their career).

Zingg discusses the work of Nathalie Claude who is a qualified language coach. Claude states that there are Germans with a dialect who want to get rid of it because some dialects are highly unpopular, especially, the Berlin, Swabian, and Saxon dialect. Although Claude points out that in a private setting, she thinks that dialects are great, she feels like they can lead to being taken less seriously. Even with highly popular dialects, like Bavarian, Claude discusses the issue of being reduced to your dialect. People might take you less seriously not only because your dialect is unpopular but also because it might be a ‘cute’ one, so, you might not be perceived as a competent colleague but rather a cute Bavarian. Which is how she come up with the idea and the business model of teaching managers, public figures etc. Hochdeutsch.

A similar article was published in 2015 by Spiegel in which Eva-Maria Hommel interviews language and vocal coach, Matthias Kirbs. Kirbs explains that dialects in a professional setting can be a distraction in that they might divert the focus of a conversation from its actual content to wondering where the dialect spoken in is from. Moreover, Kirbs discusses the even more important issue of people not understanding speakers of dialects. He gives an example of one of his clients who is an attorney. The attorney had a very distinct Saxon dialect causing them to lose cases although they had good arguments because in regions other than Saxony people didn’t understand them.

In contrast to the first article, the interview in Spiegel discusses when a dialect can rather be a positive thing. Kirbs states that for regional work it can be an advantage to speak the dialect of that region. Which is partly why he feels that people shouldn’t reduce their dialect completely but rather learn to switch from dialect to standard language. Furthermore, he assigns a benefit to keeping your dialect in that it acts as a source for strength and self-confidence since it is linked to a sense of home.

In conclusion, in both articles, dialects in a professional setting are regarded as rather negative. However, I feel the second article is less bias and less absolute. Although, I feel like I would have agreed with the first article in the beginning, I feel like reading the second one helped me grasp that I might be too close-minded. I assume that this could be the case for many people which is why dialects in the workspace have these rather negative associations. Therefore, I could see how educating and informing people, especially through the media, could weaken or even reduce the stereotypes and negative connotations dialects have completely, and prevent them from becoming extinct.

Hommel, E-.M., 2015. ‘"Bei Ihrem Dialekt hat der Konkurrent bessere Chancen"’. Spiegel.

Zingg, R., 2018. ‘„Schwäbisch kann ein Karrierekiller sein“’. WELT.

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App icons for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Picture via Google.com.

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Since I don’t have people in my circle who I would consider significantly younger than me (but not children; and as part of what I regard as the current generation of “young people”), I decided to observe young people’s use of language on popular media platforms. There are a number of very commonly used words and expressions on different platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat) that I noticed.
Some examples would be: saying that something lives rent-free in your head (e.g., “This movie lives rent-free in my head”) to express that you can’t stop thinking about it (in both, a good or a bad way); saying you lowkey want to be or do something (e.g., “I lowkey want to live her life”) to express that you secretly want to be or do something without it being obvious; saying “no cap” to express you are serious and not lying (e.g., “No cap, I love your shoes). Especially the “no cap” example reminded me of something similar lots of people from my generation (and maybe some of older generations) did: using the Arabic expression “vallah”, which means something like “(I swear) by God”, to emphasize they aren’t joking.

Something else I noticed young people share, is using lots of abbreviations, especially in written language (e.g., in comments and posts).
For example: “POV” (point of view) to express that something should be watched from a specific perspective (e.g., you see a video of someone walking funny from one part of the room to the other, the video is captioned something like “POV: Your mom just cleaned the floor” which is the reason for the person in the video walking funny); “sus” (suspicious) to express you don’t trust someone or something; “tbh” (to be honest) used similar to “no offense, but - ”.

The language used by young people throughout different media platforms can, in my opinion, definitely be considered very specific and limited to that group only. I have barely heard older people use these expressions on the same media platforms (or outside of them). I assume these expressions originated from memes and TikTok trends followed and watched by young people, and therefore, act as some form of shared identity.

Interestingly, in many videos or posts, I noticed young people’s language change quite a bit when addressing older people. Namely, their language barely included in-group specific expressions, and was overall much more conservative, formal, and respectful. Except maybe for the cases where the purpose was to actually make fun of older people for not knowing what these expressions mean.

As mentioned above, there were expressions that my generation used and still uses to show some kind of shared identity. I would assume that for every generation there are some shared expressions that distinguish the ones who get and use them from those who don’t. Especially, with younger people, I could see how having this shared identity is of great importance.

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Cartoon of a woman fighting "sorry" by New York cartoonist Emily Flake. Picture via nytimes.com.

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In 2018, Forbes published an article by Dr. Margie Warrell discussing women’s way of talking and how they “need to stop talking themselves down” (Warrell, 2018).
The author states that women are undermining their power by speaking in what she calls “out of power ways” (Warell, 2018) referring to Dr. Judith Baxter’s book The Language of Female Leadership. Warrell describes how people’s way of speaking, especially their choice of words, has a huge impact on how they are perceived and, further, how it influences their success in e.g., their career. What Warrell noticed many women do is second-guessing themselves and play down their statements/achievements.
For example, women will say something like “Correct me if I’m wrong, but…?”, instantly showing little to no confidence in their opinion/statement. Moreover, Warrell states that women are more likely to apologize in advance for their opinion, especially when it’s an unpopular one.
Warrell motivates women to stop apologizing when they haven’t done anything wrong, to stop being overly humble, and to confidently express and support their opinions.
In summary, Warrell wants women to stop using language that is qualifying, passive, or imprecise, and to rather use language that is declarative and more specific. She even gives some examples, i.e., instead of saying “I hope I can do that” women should say “I am confident I can do that”, or, instead of saying “I am hopeless at xy” they should say “I am learning how to xy”.

Since similar other articles could be found, published by Forbes as well as others like ELLE or The New York Times, it seems like the mentioned difference between men’s and women’s language is at least worth of discussion. Because all these articles reporting about that difference, encourage women to alter their language behavior and vocabulary, and especially, stop saying sorry all the time, it is safe to say that women’s language is characterized as worse than men’s.

Women’s tendency to apologize for almost everything and show insecurity could be associated with the concept of femininity created by our society where women are supposed to be sweet, coy, and humble, rather than demanding, bold, and insolent.

However, it would have been nice to see the article(-s) discuss differences between social status and/or other factors influencing language as well, and therefore, be less bias.

Warrell, M., 2018. 'Why Women Need To Stop Talking Themselves Down'. Forbes.

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The current squad of PAOK FC, my favourite soccer team. Picture via weltfussball.de.

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I can think of a few different examples where the setting is a huge influence on people’s style of language use. In general, I believe these differences are highly linked to what the speaker thinks the hearer expects from them as well as the emotional state of the speaker.

#1: My mom was born and raised in Wuppertal (NRW). So, she doesn’t speak any Swabian but she has acquired the Swabian sch to some degree. However, whenever she is talking to friends or family in Wuppertal, she will actively try to not say words like „weisch“ or „isch“ and overall speak as Hochdeutsch as she can. I would assume that this is because back in the late 90's/early 00's an aunt from Wuppertal called and my mom answered the phone with „Hallo, da isch Marianna“, to which her aunt answered „Marianna, wie sprichst denn du?“ because even the use of isch shocked her.

#2: I work for one of my lecturers as a tutor and I noticed that whenever we are discussing private stuff or even work-related topics in an informal setting (at a café or via WhatsApp), their entire speech style is very different from when they are teaching a seminar. Since I took many of their classes, I was able to observe a lot of differences. Namely, in their seminars, they are much more serious and refrain from expressing humor because in the past students have been taking their jokes the wrong way (some even felt offended). However, when talking to me privately, they are still joking a lot because they are a very sarcastic person (and so am I).

#3: I was raised bilingually but since I grew up in Germany and have been speaking mostly German at home (and only German at school) my entire life, Greek might be one of my native languages but I don’t speak it nearly as well as German. Now, my godfather is Greek and doesn’t speak any German. Moreover, he is a professor of Greek philology, so his Greek is pretty much prefect. Sometimes I don’t even understand what he says because he uses words I’ve never heard of. So, when I am talking to him, I consciously pay a lot of attention to how I speak as to at least sound as close to his level as possible. I will formulate more complex sentences and try to use more formal expressions to do so because my vocabulary (compared to his) is very limited, so I can’t rely on using "big words".

#4: Another - maybe interesting - example is my use of swear words. Normally, I don’t particularly like swearing and barely express myself that way; I am for example a very calm driver. However, there is one specific setting where, regarding swearing, I am a totally different person: soccer games. Doesn’t matter whether I watch them on TV or in a stadium, I will swear (almost) like a sailor. I assume this is closely linked to how excited/enraged I am when I am watching soccer.

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A meme of Teddy portraying Antoine Burtz saying one of his most well-known phrases. Picture via memegenerator.net.

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Friend group:

Gulliver (28 years old, close friend since 2014, M.A. student of General Linguistics, German);
Cola (28 years old, close friend since 2005, psychiatric staff (B.A. Soziale Arbeit), German with Croatian background);
Coco (27 years old, close friend since 2011, dental assistant, Croatian, born in Nürtingen, lives in Germany).
All three know each other through me and we all hang out together approximately once a week.

The most distinct expressions someone would hear in this friend group originated from my slight obsession with the comedian Tedros Teclebrhan or Teddy. Teddy created a character named Antoine Burtz who speaks a mixture of Swabian and some kind of foreign accent/dialect while including made-up words (trying to portray someone who’s uneducated, e.g., he would say „fassenlos“ instead of „fassungslos“). Since I used to watch lots of his bits, I adapted his way of speaking pretty quickly and my friends started to imitate it as well. Concretely, these friends are the only people I will greet with the words „Tag zsamm!“ („Tag zusammen!“) which is how Antoine would greet his viewers. Another example worth mentioning would be„reminissbar“ which is used by Antoine to express that something is quite enjoyable. That is a word that is only used in this friend group and that would most likely not be understood by anyone else I know. The interesting thing about that word is that we changed it even further into a verb (we will say something like „Kann ich grad gar nicht reminissen.“) and Gulliver even went as far as changing this made-up word into „reminissable“ pronounced in a French accent (similar to something like misérable) because he likes the French language. Since that is a very specific way of speaking, I observed that whenever there is someone present who wouldn’t understand this way of speaking, none of us speaks that way. Similarly, since it is a rather funny way of speaking, when a serious topic is discussed we refrain from speaking that way as well. So, its usage is highly dependent on who is present in the conversation as well as what topic is discussed. On the one hand, I would assume that speaking this way outside of the group would lead to people not only misunderstand the speaker but even mistake them for someone who isn’t able to speak properly and, therefore, ostracize them. This is based on the few times my mom heard us talk that way and was quite thrown off by it (although she quickly caught on and has used a few expressions herself in the meantime). On the other hand, if one member of this friend group would not speak this way but simply normally, I don’t think that that would have any impact on how they will be perceived.

However, there are two big differences within the friend group:

First, Gulliver is the only Swabian and I am the only non-Swabian who has a slight Swabian accent. So, when all of us hang out together, his Swabian accent is pretty faint, although he will still use a lot of -st palatalization („Ich hab’ grad gar keine Luscht.“ instead of „Ich hab’ gar keine Lust.“) and/or the elimination of -t and the pronoun („Bisch schon da?“ instead of „Bist du schon da?“). However, when it’s only him and me, his Swabian dialect gets much stronger („I han gar koi Luscht.“; „Bisch scho do?“. I would say, his Swabian only gets more prominent when he is talking to his family who is living in a small very Swabian village.

As soon as the others join (or someone else who doesn’t speak Swabian) his use of the Swabian dialect decreases but never disappears entirely. So, if he would suddenly start speaking Hochdeutsch with us, I am pretty sure we would mock him a little.

Second, Cola and Coco both speak Croatian since their respective parents are from Croatia and raised them bilingually. When it’s only the two of them they will sometimes speak Croatian to one another but will switch to German when Gulliver and/or I join.

Family group:

Marianna (56 years old, my mom, banker (Dipl.-Ing.), Greek, born in Wuppertal, lives in Germany);
Timo (25 years old, my brother, tax consultant (B.Sc.), Greek, born in Reutlingen, lives in Germany),
Dora (47 years old, my aunt (mom’s sister), structural engineer (Dipl.-Math.), Greek, born in Wuppertal, lives in Greece),
Sakis (34 years old, my boyfriend (of 4 years), driver’s license examiner (Dipl.-Ing.), Greek, born in Nürtingen, lives in Germany).
Everyone knows each other. My mom, Timo and I talk to each other on a daily basis, so do Sakis and I. All of us talk to Dora approximately twice a month. My mom and Timo talk to Sakis about twice or thrice a week.
My mom, Timo, Sakis and I speak German as our first language while Dora speaks German as a second language. However, we all share Greek as our first language as well since my mom, Timo, Sakis, and I were all raised bilingually.

I have an overall informal speech style when it comes to my family. On the one hand, this is due to the daily contact and the fact that they are my family. And on the other hand, I guess it originated from my mom’s very lenient and liberal manner of raising us which created a friendship-like relationship to her and surely influenced the way I talk to her and to my brother. Similarly, my brother is much more informal when talking to us as compared to when he talks to someone from work.

I noticed that when Sakis talked to me (or my brother) his general speech style was a lot more informal compared to when he talked to my mom or my aunt. Especially in the beginning, when he first got to know them, I noticed him choosing many more formal expressions than he would normally. I would assume that this happened because they are older than him and it was some sort of showing respect. Over time, however, his speech style started being less and less formal although not quite as informal as when talking to me. I would assume that the reason is twofold: on the one hand, I guess his speech style changed due to the fact that he got to know everyone better, and on the other hand, they way I talk to them might have influenced him.

Sakis, my brother and I share the same slight Swabian accent that my mom and my aunt do not have because they weren’t raised in southwest Germany. My mom speaks much more Hochdeutsch (lived in Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen, for the first 18 years of her life) and my aunt learned German as second language (my grand-parents moved back to Greece with her when she was still a child while my mom moved to Tübingen to study) and so her German is Hochdeutsch as well. So, when all of us are talking, there is barely any Swabian accent present but when my mom and my aunt are not there, we make much more use of the Swabian sch.

The most distinct group feature, however, is our usage of what could be called Greutsch, meaning a mixture of Greek and German. Mainly, it works by conjugating Greek verbs how you would German ones and using them in German sentences („Hast das simmazepst?“ From the greek verb συμμαζεύω ~ simmazevo (to tidy up)). We all started doing it because my mom did it by accident once.

Although the speech style in this group is quite informal and shaped by lots of different little details, I would assume that if one of us started speaking very formally or if my mom or my aunt started having a Swabian accent, it would throw the others off a little but I wouldn’t go as far as saying they would be ostracized for that.

In general, both groups can be considered informal (as compared to groups in a more formal setting like work) and, therefore, might have their distinct features but the absence of those would not lead to any serious consequences but merely some jokingly mocking. However, they show that our speech style are highly impacted by the relationships we have to one another and we adjust it accordingly.

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The Tesla Roadster running on e-mobility. Picture via tesla.com.

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Declining: Galanterie - noun (feminine), [ɡalanteˈriːe], translation: politeness / courtesy.
When looking up the term Galanterie on Google Ngram Viewer, you can observe a very noticeable decline of its use. Whereas it was more commonly used in the 1800’s, it stagnated during the 20th  century and has barely been used since the Millennium. The term has since been replaced by the terms Höfflichkeit or Zuvorkommenheit and would generally count as archaic. During the time it has been used, its definition has changed a couple of times probably because it is a loan-word from the Roman languages. This could be an indicator of why its use declined over time and has been replaced by a German word (or German words). However, that is simply a hypothesis because no other solid reason could be found.

Increasing: Elektromobilität - noun (feminine), [eˈlɛktʁomobiliˌtɛːt], translation: electromobility.

The word Elektromobilität, according to Google Ngram Viewer, started appearing somewhere between 1994 and 1995 which makes sense since in 1997 the first hybrid, so partially on e-mobility running, vehicle, the Toyota Prius, was introduced. However, the word use did not start rising as rapidly as it eventually did until around 2005. From then on a heavy increase can be observed. Again, this makes perfect sense when looking at that period of time. Around 2005 Tesla first introduced their fully electrically powered Tesla Roadster which was available for purchase only about three years later. In the following years, the term electromobility has become more and more present since there has been great progress in that field and many automobile manufacturers have jumped on board of the e-mobility-wagon in that they have created and build a variety of electro vehicles. This trend can be linked to the more present than ever issue we face regarding climate change and global warming which favors the importance of e-mobility as an alternative to motor vehicles as well as its importance as a term.

Fad: Reich - noun (neuter), [raiç], translation: empire.
According to Google Ngram Viewer, the word Reich peaked in German literature in the year 1941. In the middle of 1941 the German Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union without a declaration of war under the so-called operation Barbarossa. Since, therefore, that year was a peak in WWII, it is not too surprising that the word Reich, which was and still is used to refer to Nazi-Germany, peaked as well. Around that peak the term Reich has been used approximately the same amount to refer to empires other than the Third Reich, e.g. the Roman Empire, or as mein Reich instead of mein Bereich referring to someone’s space. However, its use is not as prominent or important as it was during its peak. There might even be an unconscious mutual consent to avoid using the word nowadays because of its negative connotation.

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A scene in 'The Big Bang Theory' where Leonard tells Penny she can't end a sentence with a preposition. GIF via getyarn.io.

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Ask or Aks?:

Scrolling through social media, I remember stumbling across a viral short video where I heard someone say aksed instead of asked the first time. After that, I feel like I heard it more and more. Personally, I felt like it did not sound right. That seemed to be a rather common notion – some people even went as far as associating it with less education. However, it seems like there are arguments against the usage of aks being a lazy, ignorant, or even less intelligent alternative. If using aks for the above reasons were the case, pronunciation of other similar sounding words would show the same effect. Since, however, words like flask or desk are never pronounced like flaks or deks, it is safe to assume that there are other reasons behind pronouncing ask as aks. Linguists argue that it is a metathesis, meaning that it is not incorrect but rather an effect of language changing. Further, linguists found the usage of aks has its origins in Old English and was – at some point – the more typical pronunciation in the middle and southern parts of England. At some point, however, the in the north typically used ask became the standard pronunciation. This shows that at some point aks was indeed a correct way of pronouncing ask and its usage is falsely perceived as incorrect and as a less educated way of speaking. Today, it is found in communities speaking the dialect Multicultural London English as well as the Afro American community, and is, therefore, associated with people of ethnic minority backgrounds. Personally, I do not feel like using aks helps me speak more fluently. In contrast, pronouncing it ask feels smoother. Nevertheless, the initial notion I had can be considered to be prejudice against communities with different accents or dialects.

'Aks'. Urban Dictionary.

'Ask or aks? How linguistic prejudice perpetuates inequality'. The Conversation.

'Why is "ask" sometimes pronounced "aks"?'. English Language & Usage.

“Well, you can't end a sentence with a preposition” is a sentence I have heard more than one time in one way or another in different sitcoms where one character is portrayed as what might be jokingly called the grammar police. However, I have caught myself ending sentences with a preposition on many occasions while never feeling like it did not sound right. Which is why I was interested to find out whether doing so is actually incorrect. Interestingly enough, it is not. At some point, there has been an attempt to establish it is a rule – but it never became a rule. Nonetheless, there are people who want to hold on to that rule despite its non-existence. Regarding English grammar, using terminal prepositions is not wrong although many people are still strongly against it – in real life and on television.

‘Prepositions, Ending a Sentence With’. Merriam Webster Dictionary.

'Can You End A Sentence With A Preposition?'. Thesaurus.

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A Greek iced coffee called 'frape'. Picture taken in August 2020.

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Greek cafes/bars: Native speakers of Greek who speak German as a second language and have not been born in Germany have a fairly distinct accent.
Mainly, you can notice differences in their pronunciation of /r/ and /h/. While the /r/ sound in german words is pronounced as [ʁ], native Greek speakers tend to use the sound [r]. The sound /h/ creates an even bigger issue for them because there is no h in the greek alphabet and, consequently, there is no /h/ sound. This leads to them using the sound [​χ​] instead of [h].
For Greeks who have been born in Germany and speak German as their first language, this does not happen. However, I have noticed them changing their speech style depending on whom they talk to. Meaning, when talking to each other or other native speakers of German, their pronunciation does not show any signs of a Greek accent but when they speak German to other Greeks who learned German as a second language, they switch to an accent to help their conversation partners understand them better.
Similarly, with a new generation of people immigrating from Greece to Germany, you can observe the same effect. All sounds in German words that are not present in the Greek language are pronounced differently/with an accent, especially the ones mentioned above.
Another observation is the elimination of pronouns. Since the Greek language barely uses nominative pronouns (because the conjugated verb functions as an indicator), native speakers of Greek tend to omit the nominative pronoun when speaking German. Example: Instead of ‚Wir müssen noch zur Bank gehen‘ you would hear something like ‚Müssen noch bei Bank gehen‘.

Foreign students: Being a student in Tübingen for quite some time, I got to know many different people. As many foreign students don’t speak German, English is spoken amongst us/them. I noticed very different accents and over time it was easier to guess where people were from based on their accents. For example, students from India or China/Taiwan usually have very distinct accents.
Native speakers of Indian tend to use the sound /t/ instead of /θ/ and there are also differences in intonation and their rhythm of speech.
For Chinese or Taiwanese students, I noticed that the most noticeable thing they do is add a schwa sound after plosives. It’s a pretty good indicator of where their accent is from.