WARF-Funded Student Profile: Finn Shepherd
PhD candidate, German
Faculty advisor: Mark Louden
Finn’s research focuses on language contact between German, Dutch, and English. His dissertation explores how English contact and language are received differently in two online communities. This work shows how creative use of different languages helps internet users create an identity and norms for their online communities.
Finn’s study focuses on two communities on the online forum Reddit. The Dutch-language community generally tolerates users posting words borrowed from English, Finn said. On the other hand, the German-language community rejects English words and translates them into German.
“Rather than follow conventional loan translation patterns, members of the German subreddit create what they call ‘Zangendeutsch,’ loan translations that still retain their English characteristics,” Finn said. “This practice appears to in part be a satirical response to language purists, who decry the influence of English in German and Dutch and call for the rejection of English in favor of native words instead. ‘Zangendeutsch’ is essentially responding to this call, but intentionally taking it overboard.”
To date, few studies have compared English use in German and Dutch online communities. Finn’s dissertation explores how these spaces differ in their use of English and how “Zangendeutsch” illustrates people’s creativity in linguistic spaces.
“Users can reject overt English use by translating words and phrases into German, but still use English for the building blocks and have fun with the practice and create something novel,” Finn says.
Finn received a WARF-funded Graduate School fellowship in his second semester of graduate school. He said this support allowed him to take one more class than he otherwise could have, which supported his scholarly development. Since then, Finn has received the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the Center for European Studies and multiple Peer Course Facilitator Scholarships. In Fall 2026, a Graduate School Fellowship will give him time to continue progress on his dissertation and prepare to present on “Zangendeutsch” at the 10th Doctoral Conference of the DAAD Centers for German and European Studies in November.