Kanak sprak: the linguistic features of Turkish migrants’ communicative style in Feridun Zaimoğlu’s works

This paper aims at describing from a linguistic point of view communicative style of the second- and third-generation Turkish migrants into Germany through the works of Feridun Zaimoğlu. The expressive forms which characterise this style include, among others, the representation of a particular way of dressing, body language, facial expressions and gestures. This essay, however, will focus on its linguistic features. By using their own distinctive language, the speakers communicate their belonging to a specific group and their desire to be considered as representatives of a hybrid culture. Their language gives expression to their socio-cultural identity. The specific group of Turkish migrants this work intends to study is that of the so-called Kanaken. In the next sections, I will briefly explain the concept ‘Kanake’ and I will present the German-Turkish writer Feridun Zaimoğlu and his works. His books represent the socio-linguistic and cultural context which underpins these young people’s behaviour. As any effort to describe and/or understand how the language is employed in this specific literary context, without taking into due consideration those extralinguistic factors which clearly influence communication and constitute its social basis, is bound to be futile, I will also consider the ethnic and cultural background of the second- and third-generation Turkish immigrants in Germany. Finally, I will look at the ethnolectal variety of the kanak sprak, as well as its stylisation by the media, before concluding by identifying, on the basis of the evolving social conditions which will have been outlined, the linguistic structures, i.e. the pragmatic linguistic features, of the Kanaken’s ethnolect in Zaimoğlu’s works. I will be attempting to explain them in the light of the socio-linguistic assumptions that characterise multilingualism in the context of migration.