Purist activity is defined as:

[A] desire on the part of the speech community [ ... ] to preserve a language from, or rid it of, putative foreign elements, or other elements held to be undesirable (including those in dialects, sociolects, and styles of the same language). It may be directed at all foreign elements but primarily the lexicon. (Thomas 1991 : 12)

Thomas, G. ( 1991 ) Linguistic Purism. London and New York: Longman.

Does purity exist in languages?

The crucial point for our discussion is that there is – strictly speaking – no such thing as linguistic purity: first because we can never determine the Stunde Null, the very beginning of a language – when, by definition, it was pure – and, secondly, because a new language is always the result of some degree of language contact; hence, even if we were able to pinpoint the actual birth of a language, it would contain some degree of influence from other languages.

Nils Langer and Winifred Davies (eds.) (2007): Linguistic purism in the Germanic languages. Cambridge University Press.

Highlight all anglicisms by clicking on the words.

Ich habe vielleicht etwas Weltverbesserndes . Mein Leben ist eine giving-story . Ich habe verstanden , daß daß man contemporary sein muß , das future-Denken haben muß . Meine Idee war , die hand-tailored-Geschichte mit neuen Technologien zu verbinden . Und für den Erfolg war mein coordinated concept entscheidend , die Idee , daß man viele Teile einer collection miteinander combinen kann . Aber die audience hat das alles von Anfang an auch supported . Der problembewußte Mensch von heute kann diese Sachen , diese refined Qualitäten mit spirit eben auch appreciaten . Allerdings geht unser voice auch auf bestimmte Zielgruppen . Wer Ladyisches will , searcht nicht bei Jil Sander . Man muß Sinn haben für das effortless , das magic meines Stils .

(Jil Sander, Modeschöpferin aus Hamburg, im Magazin der FAZ, 1996)

German War and German Language
By Prof. Dr. Alfred Götze, at present in military service

German war and German language — the two have more in common than the everyday consciousness, even of the educated, is inclined to admit. Not only do Germans fight against Frenchmen and Englishmen; German, too, fights against French and English. The outcome of the world conflict will determine what role the German language will play on earth in the future. (...)

Our language can only be understood inwardly if one keeps in mind that it developed during a period of warlike German culture. The Germanic peoples enter history as a nation of warriors; war and hunting, according to the account of their first great observer, the Roman Tacitus, are the only occupations of the Germanic man that he deems him worthy of. (p. 268) (...)

This impression is reinforced when we direct our attention further to the inner life of the German language. Then follow the centuries in which German intellectual life gains strength and begins to contribute new values to the spiritual life of the whole world — values that could grow only on German soil. (...) We speak of weapons of the mind and need them for offense and defense in spiritual struggles; we champion a standpoint also on the battlefield of the mind, choose positions, seek cover and support points, do not budge, and hold high the flag of our convictions. (p. 269f) (...)

Thus our language has reached proud summits by allowing itself to be guided by the world and mindset of war; and what we have so far learned about the contact between German war and the German language could only be a blessing for our German. That impression is entirely correct, as long as one has war as a spiritual force in mind. (p. 272) (...)

The acceptance or rejection of foreign elements depends entirely on the mental disposition of the individual and the nation. And since our people are now German-minded in every one of its members, think German with a vivacity and consciousness perhaps never before seen in its long history — for to be German is the most beautiful thing one can be today — therefore there is good and powerful reason to hope that this war will become a liberator for us in every sense, including linguistically. (p. 278) (...)

And in truth it is the war that has made our people great. (...) Treitschke once judged: “The old proverb that necessity is the mother of virtue is cruel, and thank God only half true, if it is meant for the individual man; but it applies fully to the fate of entire nations.” It applies as well to our German war and to our linguistic experience within it. The language of all the educated has through the war become richer, more vibrant, more German. What a role words play such as Burgfrieden (“civil truce”), Feldgrauer (“field gray [soldier]”), Gegen- und Luftstoß (“counter and air assault”), Schützengraben (“trenches”), strecken (“to surrender”), sturmreif (“storm-ready”), Unterstand (“dugout”) and Vorfeld (“forefield”) — how suddenly present they are for all of us and how vividly expressive! (...) Words long familiar acquire an entirely new emotional meaning: how dismissively did the Einjähriger (“one-year volunteer”) speak of the barracks before the war, and how warmly does the word now sound to him in the trenches! And on a broader and deeper level: in the mighty furnace of war, too, the linguistic tools are being forged for the new, great literature that the newly created German people will fight for after the war. The tools of future poets are thereby prepared: richer, more powerful, sharper than the blunt and dulled linguistic resources of the long years of peace. (p. 279)

Götze, Alfred (1918): Deutscher Krieg und deutsche Sprache. In: Wissenschaftliche Beihefte zur Zeitschrift des allgemeinen deutschen Sprachvereins. Heft 38/40, S. 268-282.

Jewish in German Writing

In his pamphlet "Sprachpflege als Rassenpflicht" (language cultivation as a racial duty) Ewald Geißler speaks of that printed German which is a hidden Jewish. This is a valuable hint to a new science, at least to an important special part of linguistics, which would lie approximately between linguistics and expressive science. In this new science, the form of language would have to be studied as an expression of the racial soul. In accordance with the ideological concerns of the present, Jewish imprints in the German language would have to be proven above all. For even to the most reluctant the danger of the Judaization of German cultural life, especially of German literature, is gradually dawning. There is no more efficient way to search for the essence of a person and a people than by observing their language. Therefore: whoever looks at the literature of the Jews recognizes its essence. There is a profound wisdom and justice in the fact that language most mercilessly exposes the one who misuses it as a mask - of the thousand masks of our culture the finest and most deceptive.
The Jew, master of the mask and thus also of language, as far as it can be grasped by the mere intellect, is betrayed by his mask, the language. It would be the task of a large-scale investigation of the most careful diligence to list the individual evidences of Jewish mask language and language masks. (...)
Because the foreign word, as the most indistinct, most soulless, most uninspiring linguistic structure, is most conducive to such blurring, the Jewish predilection for it can be explained. Hence also the furious hostility of some Jews against the German Language Association.

Jüdisches im Deutschen Schrifttum

In seiner Flugschrift "Sprachpflege als Rassenpflicht" spricht Ewald Geißler von jenem gedruckten Deutsch, das ein verstecktes Jüdisch ist. Das ist ein wertvoller Hinweis auf eine neue Wissenschaft, zumindest auf einen wichtigen besonderen Teil der Sprachwissenschaft, der etwa zwischen Sprachlehre und Ausdruckskunde läge. In dieser neuen Wissenschaft müßte die Sprachform als Ausdruck der Rassenseele untersucht werden. Dem weltanschaulichen Anliegen der Gegenwart entsprechend, wären vor allem jüdische Prägungen im deutschen Sprachgut nachzuweisen. Denn selbst dem Widerstrebendsten dämmert allmählich die Gefahr der Verjudung des deutschen Kulturlebens, besonders des deutschen Schrifttums. Kein Weg ist tüchtiger, das Wesen eines Menschen und eines Volkes zu suchen als die Betrachtung seiner Sprache. Darum: wer das Schrifttum der Juden betrachtet, erkennt sein Wesen. Es liegt eine tiefe Weisheit und Gerechtigkeit darin, daß die Sprache den am erbarmungslosesten preisgibt, der sie als Maske mißbraucht - von den tausend Masken unserer Kultur die feinste und täuschendste.
Der Jude, Meister der Maske und somit auch der Sprache, soweit sie mit dem bloßen Verstande zu erfassen ist, wird von seiner Maske, der Sprache verraten. Aufgabe einer großangelegten Untersuchung sorgsamsten Fleißes wäre es, die Einzelbelege jüdischer Maskensprache und Sprachmasken aufzureihen. (...)
Weil nun das Fremdwort, als das undeutlichste, seelenloseste, erlebnisärmste Sprachgebilde solcher Verschwommenheit am dienlichsten ist, erklärt sich die jüdische Vorliebe dafür. Daher auch die wütende Feindschaft mancher Juden gegen den Deutschen Sprachverein.

Mitlacher, Heinz (1938): Jüdisches im Deutschen Schrifttum. In: Muttersprache 53, 11. Sp. 372-375.

Translate the highlighted terms in the following passage using the Anglizismenindex provided by the Verein Deutsche Sprache or yor own creativity.

Mein Bruder ist total uncool. Er hat sich ein neues Spiel gedownloadet und zockt nur noch an seiner PlayStation. Jetzt will er gar nicht mehr mit mir in den Park, um ein paar neue Moves auf dem Skateboard zu üben. Ich will viel trainieren, um für den Contest nächste Woche fit zu sein. Von der Siegerprämie will ich mir nämlich das neue Smartphone kaufen. Meine Mom meint, als sie ein Teenie war gab, es noch keine Laptops und Handys. Wie haben die sich denn dann damals verabredet?
Sobald sich mein Bruder heute von seinem Game losreißen kann, gehen wir auf eine Party in einem angesagten Club. Wir wollen da eigentlich nur ein bisschen chillen und was trinken. Es gibt immer gute Snacks, Potato Wedges mit Sour Cream und Cookies. Ich hoffe, die Musik ist relaxed und die Leute sind nicht zu overdressed.