How to Deal with Non-Dominant Languages – Metalinguistic Discourses on Low German in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This paper discusses nineteenth-century metalinguistic discussions of Low German, an authochthonous of Northern Germany, which, having lost its status as a written language suitable for formal discourse during the Early Modern period, has since been reduced to the spoken domain. During the nineteenth century the language was on the verge of enjoying a revival, with original poetry being published and extensive discussions as to whether Low German ought to play a role in formal education. As this article shows, this discussion was intense and controversial. Comparing the views of Klaus Groth, the leading proponent of Low German in the second half of the nineteenth century, with the internal debates amongst school teachers - hitherto never discussed by the scholarly literature – this article demonstrates the intellectual and ideological split felt by these educational practioners in their views of Low German: on the one hand, they recognise the cultural value of Low German as the historical language of the North and the native language of the pupils they teach, on the other hand they agree with each other that the language of education and science, as well as national unity, can only be High German. We hope to show with our discussion not only how very similar modern thinking on the use of Low German is to these historical discussions but also how the status and perception of many regional and minority languages across the world has been subject to the same or very similar thoughts and pressures.

Schweizerdeutsch und Sprachbewusstsein

“…Jahrhunderts hinzugekommen, von denen hier eine Auswahl aufgeführt werden soll, so z. B. die Beiträge in Cherubim/Grosse /Mattheier 1998sowie Linke 1998aLerchner 1999;Jordan 2000;Semenjuk 2000Semenjuk : 1758Semenjuk -1760Polenz 2002;Elspaß 2005a;Fischer 2006;Langer 2011;Theobald 2012;Ziegler 2012;Langer 2013;Langer/ Langhanke 2013;Beyer et al 2014;Elspaß 2014;Langhanke 2015;Schiegg 2016. gebrauchsgeschichte fehlen bislang empirische Untersuchungen, deren Hauptaugenmerk auf dem 19.…”