Wörterbücher der deutschen Jugendsprache 1980-2005: Bestandsaufnahme und kritische Analysen

The article presents a critical analysis of dictionaries of German youth language published since the 1980th. The vocabulary contained in these dictionaries will be described and quantified with regard to predominant parts of speech and semantic fields, as well as concerning the percentage of semantic shifts, foreign words and neologisms. Processes of (re)standardization of the elements of youth language will also be discussed. The goal of the investigation is a critical survey in diachronic perspective of the vocabulary that during the last three decades has been considered characteristic for youth language by the authors of the dictionaries and thus should have had in the general social perception up to a certain point a connotation of being typical for youth language. Furthermore will be assessed the applicability of this kind of popular science dictionaries to linguistic research of youth language.