Dynamics of English Borrowings in German Political Discourse: Functional and Semantic Aspect

This paper examines the functioning of English borrowings in the individual discourse of leading German politicians representing different parties. Within the context of dominant transnational political ideas, English borrowings serve as a significant marker of political self-portrayal. The authors proceed from the premise that their use constitutes a deliberate strategy for stylizing professional communication and shaping the hybrid identity of a political actor. The empirical basis of the study is formed by the pre-election books written by Annalena Baerbock (Alliance 90/The Greens) and Sahra Wagenknecht (The Left Party), published during the campaign for the 20th Bundestag (2021). The research methodology integrates quantitative methods of corpus linguistics and qualitative discourse analysis, which allows for the explication of hidden ideological attitudes. The authors present an original classification of English borrowings, comprising five functional and semantic groups: terminologically motivated borrowings, conceptual borrowings, stylistic borrowings, pseudo-borrowings, and quotation borrowings. The study reveals a predominance of terminologically motivated borrowings (in terms of the units' number and their usage frequency) in the discourse of both politicians, and a minimal proportion of pseudo-borrowings and quotation borrowings (no more than 1,5%). The frequency of conceptual borrowings is consistent across both politicians' discourse (19%). However, their lexical diversity differs: they account for 27% of the unique borrowings used by A. Baerbock, compared to 16% for S. Wagenknecht. Stylistic borrowings are far more prevalent in A. Baerbock’s discourse (23%) as opposed to S. Wagenknecht’s, where they constitute only 8%. The results demonstrate that, despite differing party affiliations and ideological orientations, both politicians actively employ English-language borrowings to fill terminological gaps. At the same time, individual experience exerts a determining influence on the frequency and functional load of the borrowings. The analysis confirm that English borrowings serve as a tool for self-presentation, acting as indicators of commitment to progressive values or allegiance to specific ideological movements. In conclusion, the paper outlines prospects for further research by incorporating a larger texts' volume from representatives of various political spectra in Germany.