Shafaqna English- In recent years, an uninvited guest has begun to infiltrate the grammar of everyday German: the English possessive apostrophe.
As the influence of English grows through media, advertising, and the internet, more and more Germans are adopting this punctuation mark where it doesn’t belong, much to the frustration of linguistic purists. In traditional German grammar, the possessive is straightforward—an “-s” is simply added to the noun or proper name without the need for an apostrophe.
For instance, if you want to say “Anna’s book” in German, it would be written as “Annas Buch”. A growing number of signs, advertisements, and even everyday texts feature apostrophes in constructions like “Peter’s Auto” instead of “Peters Auto,” echoing the English form of possession.
In the most recent edition of the Council for German Orthography’s style guide, which prescribes grammar use at schools and public bodies in Germany, a significant change was made regarding the possessive apostrophe.
Now, there is some allowance for using the possessive apostrophe, especially in informal contexts, such as brand names, or to prevent confusion or awkward constructions. For example, “Anna’s Café” is allowed under the new rules for clarity and aesthetic reasons, though it is still technically not required.
While the change is subtle and meant to accommodate modern usage trends, particularly influenced by English, the relaxation has sparked debate among lovers of the German language. For language purists and educators, this trend is nothing short of an assault on the integrity of the German language.
Source: TRTWORLD