Rethinking Historical Multilingualism and Language Contact ‘from Below’. Evidence from the Dutch-German Borderlands in the Long Nineteenth Century

Abstract

European language histories, including the history of Dutch, have often been portrayed as broadly linear developments towards one uniform standard language. In this biased account, rooted in the nation-building era around 1800, language diversity and multilingualism were largely rendered invisible. Against the background of clearly segregated spaces, politically and linguistically, border settings have particularly challenged the monolingual ideology of 'one nation-one language'. Taking a historical-sociolinguistic perspective, this article focuses on the Dutch-German borderlands in the long nineteenth century as an intriguing case to investigate historical multilingualism and language contact 'from below'. Despite the growing importance of nation-states and their standard languages, it is shown that multilingual practices and contact phenomena can still be traced in handwritten archival documents from the private sphere. Illustrative examples come from various family archives in the border area as well as from a unique collection of letters written by (Low) German labour migrants to their Dutch employer. These sources give evidence of the Dutch-German borderlands as a multifaceted sociolinguistic space well into the nineteenth century. Moreover, they suggest that established theories of multilingualism and language contact may require rethinking in order to account for less clear-cut and more fluid practices in the past.

Modern Languages Research: Towards a Challenge-Based Interdisciplinary Model

“…On the historical side, two studies demonstrated how narratives about the imposition of a dominant language can erase the multilingual reality and threaten minorities' linguistic rights. Andreas Krogull's research on historical multilingualism and language contact in the Dutch-German borderlands in the long nineteenth century challenges the traditional narrative of "one language-one nation", underpinned by an ideology of clearly separated linguistic and political spaces which has rendered the multilingualism of speakers and writers invisible (Krogull 2021). Through painstaking archival research and a close reading of family archives and collections of letters, Krogull shows how, despite the growing importance of nation-states and their standard languages, multilingual practices and contact phenomena can be traced in the private sphere and that the Dutch-German borderlands remained a multifaceted sociolinguistic space well into the nineteenth century.…”