Historical Sociolinguistics in Nineteenth‐Century Schleswig‐Holstein¹

Abstract

Schleswig-Holstein has always been famous as a multilingual region where up to five different languages peacefully co-exist in the same community. However, during the nineteenth century, language became a political means to suppress particular groups of people and promote others. In particular, intellectual struggle and military warfare were often followed by political reforms aimed at bringing about a change in the official and private use of language in Schleswig-Holstein. This article provides evidence from school and church inspection reports in the nineteenth century which shows how the German-speaking authorities were determined to permit only High German to be used in official domains. The use of other languages would not be allowed even though, as the inspection reports testify, both pupils and teachers frequently struggled with their competence in High German. This article thus provides a new and direct view of the multilingual situation at the lowest level of education and hence contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of language planning measures from 'above'.Schleswig-Holstein war schon immer berühmt als eine mehrsprachige Region, in der sich in manchen Gemeinden bis zu fünf Sprachen friedlich trafen. Im neunzehnten Jahrhundert jedoch wurde Sprache zu einem politischen Mittel, mit dem man ungewünschte Sprechergruppen unterdrücken, genehme Gruppen aber fördern konnte. Insbesondere sehen wir im Schleswig-Holstein des 19. Jahrhunderts, dass intellektuelle Auseinandersetzungen und militärische Kampagnen zu politischen Reformen führten, deren Ziel es war, den privaten undöffentlichen Sprach(en)gebrauch zu verändern. In diesem Aufsatz werden Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung von Schul-und Kirchenvisitationsberichten veröffentlicht, die zeigen, dass die deutschsprachigen Behörden in offiziellen Domänen nur das Hochdeutsche zuließen. Der Gebrauch anderer Sprachen war nicht zugestattet, auch wenn -wie die hier referierten Berichte zeigen -sowohl Schüler wie Lehrer zum Teil große Schwierigkeiten mit der Schriftsprache hatten. Dieser Aufsatz erlaubt uns somit einen neuen und direkten Zugang zu den Bildungsverhältnissen auf niedrigster Stufe und hilft uns hierdurch, die Effektivität von Sprachplanungsmaßnahmen von 'oben' zu messen.

Implementation and acceptance of national language policy: the case of Dutch (1750–1850)

“…This opens up many ways to investigate the top-down promotion of the standard in educational settings. Recent research has focused on school inspection reports as valuable testimonies to teaching practices that otherwise remain hidden for historical analysis (Langer 2011). Schoemaker and Rutten (2017) show that Dutch school inspectors at the beginning of the nineteenth century actively participated in the dissemination of the newly devised standard (see also below, "Standard language ideology in The Netherlands").…”

5 Language policy in the long nineteenth century: Catalonia and Schleswig

“…Actual attendance varied significantly depending on family circumstances, with many children in rural areas prevented from going to school because they were needed on the farms (cf. Langer, 2011). The official school language in the Frisian-speaking areas had been exclusively High German since at least the eighteenth century but there is evidence that in actual lessons, Frisian was used.…”

“…In schooling, it was argued that an acknowledgement of Low German would help the learning process of the pupils for whom it was a native language (cf. Langer, 2011), while studying Low German cultural expression could encourage pride in the region. Here the paradoxical nature of the support for Low German becomes most prevalent: on the one hand it was acknowledged by all that the language formed an important and treasurable part of Northern identity, worthy of attention and support.…”

“…There is evidence (most notably from school inspection reports throughout the century) that teachers in German-, Danish-, and Frisian-speaking regions faced the problem that the children's native language was not the language of schooling (cf. Langer, 2011). The Danification of the German-speaking parts of Schleswig lasted for some fourteen years, until the Second Schleswig War (1864) between Denmark and the German Federation led by Austria and Prussia.…”

The Functions and Value of Foreign Languages in Eighteenth‐Century Russia

“…In historical sociolinguistic studies of metadiscourse, researchers have considered, first, whether discussions took place among political figures or intellectuals about the usefulness of particular languages and the need for them; second, whether any language policies were in place and whether their effects can be detected; and third, how language discussions found expression in policies and affected speakers' behavior. 21 The analysis of metadiscourse enables us to deduce whether a particular way of speaking or writing is the norm or unusual, and which linguistic behaviors and elements provoke comment, and which do not.…”