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| Format | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Author, Analytic | Elspass, Stephan |
| Title, Analytic | 'Everyday Language' in Emigrant Letters and Its Implications for Language Historiography: The German Case |
| Journal Title | Multilingua |
| Date of Publication | 2007 |
| Volume ID | 26 |
| Issue ID | 2/3 |
| Location in Work | 149-163 |
| Abstract | The mass literacy drives of the 19th century have proved to be a landmark in German language history, as for the first time the majority of the people in the German-speaking countries were able to participate in the culture of writing. The full impact of the spread of writing among the lower social classes on language variation and change has, however, not yet been recognised in language historiography. With examples from grammar and spelling in private emigrant letters, the present article strongly argues for an alternative approach to language historiography, using such texts as a starting-point for a 'language history from below.' The analysis of 'everyday language' in the private letters of ordinary people can not only provide us with an insight into the language use of the vast majority of the population, but also carries valuable information on linguistic developments which have gone unnoticed in language historiography and in the research on present-day German grammar. They have demonstrated that ordinary people's writing remained relatively unaffected by official standards that were set up in school grammars and by the language norm debates of the 19th century. The emigrants' writings rather show clear traces of norms of usage, which partly date back to the 18th century or even older writing conventions and which can partly be linked to language use in spoken vernaculars that have gradually emerged as new variants of present-day German. |
| Notes | Special Issue: Lower Class Language Use in the 19th Century. Includes bibliographical notes and references. |
| Call Number | MKI P2011-3 |
| MKI Terms | Letters/ Writing/ Linguistics/ Language, German (US) -- Social aspects/ 19th century |