The articles collected in this volume offer the most various access to the discussed questions on norm and variation. In their entirety, they reflect the current discussion of the topic. Focusing on the object languages German and English ensures a high level of topical consistency. On the other hand, the four large topic areas (emergence and change of norms and grammatical constructions; relationship of codes of norms and 'real' language usage; competition of standard and non-standard language norms; and subsistent norms of minority languages and «institutionalised second-language varieties») cover a large range of relevant issues, thereby certainly giving an impetus to new and further investigations.

The book treats different aspects of language norms. One focus is on standardization and language policy. Other contributions investigate the construction of L2 norms by learners and norms in classroom interaction. Discourse norms are theorized and the way language users make them relevant and explicit is examined in various communicative contexts.

Recent research has shown that proper names morphosyntactically differ from common nouns in many ways. However, little is known about the morphological and syntactic/distributional differences between proper names and common nouns in less known (Non)-Indo-European languages. This volume brings together contributions which explore morphosyntactic phenomena such as case marking, gender assignment rules, definiteness marking, and possessive constructions from a synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspective. The languages surveyed include Austronesian languages, Basque, English, German, Hebrew, and Romance languages. The volume contributes to a better understanding not only of the contrasts between proper names and common nouns, but also of formal contrasts between different proper name classes such as personal names, place names, and others.

This volume showcases studies that recognize and provide evidence for the inseparability of lexis and grammar. The contributors explore in what ways these two areas, often treated separately in linguistic theory and description, form an organic whole. The papers in Section I (Setting the Scene) introduce some of the key methodological approaches and theoretical positions at the lexis-grammar interface, while Section II (Considering the Particulars) contains papers that report on case studies and show concrete applications of the central methods and theories. Exploring the Lexis-Grammar Interface is a stimulating collection of papers for anyone who wishes to learn more about and get fresh state-of-the-art perspectives on language patterning.

The volume presents a selection of contributions related to integration, adaptation, language attitudes and language change among young Russian-speaking immigrants in Germany. At the turn of the century, Germany, which defined itself as a mono-ethnic and mono-racial society, has become a country integrating various immigrant groups. Among those, there are three different types of Russian immigrants: Russian Germans, Russian Jews and ethnic Russians, all three often perceived as “Russians” by the host country. The three groups have the same linguistic background, but a different ethnicity, known as “nationality”, a separate entry in Russian official documents. This defined the immigration paths and the subsequent integration into German society, where each group strives to position itself in relation to two other groups in the same migrant space. The book discusses the complexities of belonging and (self-/other) assignment to groups as well as the attitude to language maintenance among young Russian-speaking immigrants.

Whilst earlier studies of language planning and of standardisation have tended to study macro processes, this volume is in line with more recent work aimed at bridging the macro and the micro levels by examining how the two interact and influence each other. It covers seven countries and deals with a range of sociolinguistic constellations.