Article
Licensed
Unlicensed
Requires Authentication
‘Everyday language’ in emigrant letters and its implications for language historiography – the German case
Published/Copyright:
August 16, 2007
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’.
Published Online: 2007-08-16
Published in Print: 2007-08-21
© Walter de Gruyter
You are currently not able to access this content.
You are currently not able to access this content.
Articles in the same Issue
- Obituary for Professor Alan S. Kaye
- Introduction: Lower class language use in the 19th century
- ‘Everyday language’ in emigrant letters and its implications for language historiography – the German case
- Writing and ‘the Standard’: England, 1795–1834
- Variation in Canadian French usage from the 18th to the 19th century
- Double diglossia – lower class writing in 19th-century Finland
- Writing ability and the written language of Danish private soldiers in the Three Year's War (1848–50)
- ‘Lower class language’ in 19th century Flanders
- Book reviews
Articles in the same Issue
- Obituary for Professor Alan S. Kaye
- Introduction: Lower class language use in the 19th century
- ‘Everyday language’ in emigrant letters and its implications for language historiography – the German case
- Writing and ‘the Standard’: England, 1795–1834
- Variation in Canadian French usage from the 18th to the 19th century
- Double diglossia – lower class writing in 19th-century Finland
- Writing ability and the written language of Danish private soldiers in the Three Year's War (1848–50)
- ‘Lower class language’ in 19th century Flanders
- Book reviews
