Elvira Glaser, Michael Prinz & Stefaniya Ptashnyk: Historisches Codeswitching mit Deutsch: Multilinguale Praktiken in der Sprachgeschichte

Scholarly interest in historical settings of multilingualism and language contact has flourished over the past few decades. Particularly in the Anglophone tradition, the edited volumes by Schendl and Wright (2011), Pahta et al. (2018) and Wright (2020), among others, have highlighted historical-sociolinguistic research on multilingualism, often focusing on the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Beyond English, the growing body of research on Early and Late Modern Europe (e.g. Braunmüller and Ferraresi 2003; Edwards 2022; Hüning et al. 2012; Rutten et al. 2017) has signalled a shift towards multilingual perspectives on European language historiography. For language contact situations in the history of German, many of which have been explored individually, a similar thematic volume had been lacking for a long time. Aiming to fill this gap, Historisches Codeswitching mit Deutsch: Multilinguale Praktiken in der Sprachgeschichte [Historical code-switching with German: multilingual practices in language history], edited by Elvira Glaser, Michael Prinz and Stefaniya Ptashnyk, provides a first overview of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches to historical multilingualism and language contact in various subfields of German philology.

As the volume’s title makes clear, the overarching concept is code-switching, despite the theoretical debates and terminological controversies it has sparked, especially when applied to historical written practices (e.g. Gardner-Chloros 2018; cf. also Stell 2019 for an overview). At the same time, the subtitle, which translates as ‘multilingual practices in language history’ and immediately recalls Pahta et al. (2018), also suggests more flexible approaches. A first quick scan of the chapters’ titles reveals that the contributors do not exclusively use code-switching, but also related (though not necessarily less challenging) concepts such as code-mixing and language mixing. In their concise introduction, the editors explain that they decided against providing a uniform definition of code-switching, as it seemed inappropriate given the general lack of consensus. Moreover, it would not have done justice to the prime goal of this volume: “eine erste Standortbestimmung” (p. 7), a first stocktaking of research on historical code-switching with German. Instead, all contributors were asked to explicitly address their terminological choices and positioning. Some chapters refer to Myers-Scotton’s (1993) Matrix Language Frame model, while others make use of Muysken’s (2000) terminology, such as insertion and alternation, or Auer’s (1999) typology of code-switching, language mixing and fused lects. The unavoidable consequence of this editorial decision, however, is the repetition of often-cited definitions and frameworks in practically all chapters. This can become tiresome when reading several chapters in a row, although the advantage is, of course, that individual chapters can be read independently of the introduction (and other contributions).

In total, the volume comprises 15 chapters (i.e. the editors’ introduction plus 14 contributions), the vast majority of which is written in German, with the exception of two chapters in English. While there is no structural division into thematic parts, the studies seem to have been organised according to their domains, and, to some extent, chronologically. The contributions span the 8th to the early 20th centuries, with a focus on the earlier periods. It should go without saying that this review will neither be able to fully capture the detailed philological analyses, nor critically review the application of concepts in these individual studies. In fact, the review below generally adopts the terminology used by the contributors themselves. The main purpose is to outline the multi-faceted approaches included in this book, especially through a historical-sociolinguistic lens.

Following Glaser, Prinz and Ptashnyk’s introduction (see above), the volume sets the scene with two overview chapters by pioneering experts on historical code-switching with English and German, respectively. First is Herbert Schendl’s chapter on aspects of code-switching in medieval England, which introduces the genesis of the established research tradition on English historical code-switching. Schendl then tackles terminological and methodological issues of code-switching in modern (typically spoken) and historical (exclusively written) data. In the empirical part, he presents a case study on Latin word forms in Old English, based on the Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, discussing the distinction between (single-word) code-switches and borrowing – a recurring issue throughout the book. The second overview chapter by Arend Mihm then paves the way for the volume’s core topic: code-switching in German language history. Again, Mihm addresses relevant differences between written and spoken code-switching, and their consequences for historical studies. In the main section, he sketches a kaleidoscopic picture of multilingual practices in the medieval German context, covering the languages of linguistic minorities (e.g. Hebrew), merchants and traders (e.g. Catalan), neighbouring language areas (e.g. French influence, Italian as a second language, Slavic languages, English, Low German), and literary usage. Above all, Mihm’s pilot study showcases a great variety of forms and functions of historical code-switching, which, as he argues, deserve more systematic investigation in future research.

In the following eight case studies, we notice a strong focus on the role of Latin in contact with varieties of German, albeit at different stages and in a range of texts from the legal (Ch. 4, 5), administrative (Ch. 6), religious (Ch. 7, 8, 9) and academic domains (Ch. 10, 11). First, Vincenz Schwab’s chapter on code-mixing and code-switching in early medieval legal texts analyses the insertion of vernacular words in Latin manuscripts of the Leges Barbarorum, the laws of the barbarians. Schwab describes them as a Mischtext, or ‘mixed-language text’, in which elements with Germanic etymologies occur in the Latin (matrix) language structure. Their degree of integration varies, though, ranging from unadapted Germanic Zitatwörter ‘quotation words’ to phonologically and morphologically fully integrated hybrids. Andreas Deutsch’s chapter, written from the perspective of a legal historian, examines the role of code-switching in law books from the reception period of Roman law in Germany (from the 15th century onwards). These books, mainly targeted at legal practitioners often without knowledge of Latin, were primarily written in German, but still contained Latin passages or words, including references and technical terms. Deutsch also addresses the issue of differentiating code-switching from borrowing and its consequences for legal lexicography. Turning to administrative texts, the chapter by Luise Czajkowski investigates two linguistic constellations emerging from a corpus of East Middle German town books. First, she looks at code-switching between German and Latin, finding that Latin occurs in dates and closing formulae, though some evidence of language mixing is also presented. Secondly, Czajkowski tackles the (fuzzy) distinction between varieties of Low and High German and their various ‘mixed’ outcomes, characteristic of the East Middle German transition space, against the background of language change and language shift.

Chapters 7, 8 and 9 focus on the religious domain, where Latin played a central role, too. Claudia Wich-Reif’s chapter examines code-switching between Latin and German in medieval Bible manuscripts. In particular, she looks at the Essener Evangeliar (‘Essen Gospels’), also in comparison with other gospel manuscripts, differentiating between typical glosses in the vernacular and glosses with code-switching. The latter, as Wich-Reif points out, occur as specifications of the Latin text, as explanations in the vernacular, as central elements of a Latin sentence, or as generalizations. Timo Bülters and Simone Schultz-Balluff’s chapter investigates code-mixing in 15th- and 16th-century documents from the convents of Lüneburg in northern Germany. Scrutinizing a variety of mixed-language writings of nuns, including letters, Bülters and Schultz-Balluff show that bilingualism in Latin and Low German among these convent communities was far from exceptional. In fact, members of this religious network masterfully (and creatively) mixed the two languages and their writing systems in various types of documents. The gender dimension, shedding new light on women’s multilingual competences, makes this case study a welcome addition to the volume, certainly from a historical-sociolinguistic perspective. Building a bridge between the religious and academic domains, Christine Ganslmayer’s chapter examines ‘multilinguality’ in protocols related to the revisions of Luther’s Bible. She first outlines the text-linguistic characteristics, one of which appears to be multilingualism. The analysis of protocols from 1531 then signals that the majority of switches concerns German and Latin, and to a much lesser extent Hebrew and Greek. Ganslmayer argues that these protocols document the multilingual practices of learned circles and therefore provide important insights into societal multilingualism.

Chapters 10 and 11 then shift the focus to the academic domain. Kaidi Kriisa’s contribution (in English) investigates the text production of the Academia Dorpatensis (1632–1710; today’s University of Tartu), where code-switching between Latin and at least one vernacular language (mostly German or Swedish) was a frequent phenomenon. Drawing on a large corpus of academic texts, Kriisa zooms in on four sources – a Consistory protocol, an album amicorum entry, a student scholarship application, and academic disputations – in order to examine linguistic and extralinguistic functions of these multilingual practices. In the selected texts, she identifies “the degree of conversational intimacy as one of the hidden functions of code-switching” (p. 298). The chapter by Michael Prinz concentrates on code-switching and language mixing in academic lectures. It explores the “buntschäkkige Universitätssprache”, or ‘brindled university language’, against the background of language shift in the academic domain from Latin to German towards the late 18th century. After discussing a number of metalinguistic reflections on the professors’ multilingual practices, Prinz introduces the Historisches Vorlesungskorpus project, an annotated corpus of handwritten student transcripts of academic lectures, spanning the period from 1700 to 1830. He argues that (good) student transcripts can offer a relatively spoken-like glimpse into the historical lecture theatre.

Sources from the private domain form the focal point of Chapters 12 and 13. Joachim Peters and Sabrina Freund’s chapter examines multilingualism among the 17th-century aristocratic elite. Focusing on the diaries of Christian II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, they find that the (dominantly) German texts contain a fair number of passages in foreign languages, including French, Latin and Italian. For each of these resources, Peters and Freund identify a communicative profile, based on emotionality, topic and function. French, for instance, was used for impulsive reactions and emotional states like happiness and anger, or associated with the courtly sphere. Latin, in contrast, tended to be used for persistent, mostly negative states, such as despair and resignation, but also for cultural references and quotes. Fast forward to the 19th century, Markus Schiegg and Monika Foldenauer’s chapter is based on lower-class writings from the Corpus of Patient Documents, investigating ego-documents from southern German patients treated in psychiatric hospitals. The detailed analysis of code-switching examples, organised according to structural and various functional categories, illustrates the writers’ flexible use of different varieties of German (i.e. ‘monolingual’ code-switching), but also occasional switches to foreign languages like Russian or French. Schiegg and Foldenauer emphasise that inexperienced writers like farmers, labourers and maids were able to functionally use the varieties and languages in their repertoires, demonstrating a strong linguistic awareness, even in writing.

Moving on from ego-documents to newspapers, the chapter by Stefaniya Ptashnyk focuses on code-switching and its conceptual ‘siblings’ in the multilingual city of Lemberg (present-day Lviv). Investigating a corpus of 19th-century newspapers in German, Ukrainian and Polish, she presents a typology of multilingual practices in printed writing, which ranges from minimal insertion and proper names, to more complex language mixing and bilingual parallel texts. Ptashnyk’s case study also incorporates another important layer of multilingualism in the written medium, namely visual marking. Her data display a co-occurrence of Latin, Cyrillic and Hebrew scripts, but also other typographical means employed to highlight other-language elements. Finally, the volume concludes with a theoretical-methodological contribution (in English) by Mareike Keller. Developing a structural template for historical code-switching, Keller assesses whether Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame model can actually be applied to historical sources, by analysing case marking in two famously multilingual sources: MS Bodley 649, a sermon collection from late medieval England, and Luther’s Tischreden (Table Talk). Keller shows that “most mixing patterns in the analysed HCS [historical code-switching] texts comply with the MLF model without the need for any modifications” (p. 458), at least in situations with Latin and the vernacular as clearly distinct systems. She also observes that “the similarities and differences to MCS [modern code-switching] we find in Middle English and Latin sermons from the early 15th century are exactly the same ones as the ones we find in Early New High German and Latin Table Talk from the 16th century” (p. 460). This clearly calls for more comparative research and nicely highlights that historical code-switching with English and with German, respectively, should not be seen as two disconnected research fields.

In sum, the edited volume offers a solid overview of research on historical multilingual practices with German. Bringing together a collection of individual studies, it covers a broad spectrum of domains and time periods, from the Middle Ages to the Late Modern era. Somewhat disappointing is the relatively limited variety of linguistic constellations. Although the role of Latin can hardly be denied, especially in earlier stages of language history, some more counterbalance to these fairly traditional accounts of code-switching between German and Latin would have been appreciated. Many of the contact languages mentioned in Mihm’s overview chapter, as well as other neighbouring languages like Danish or Dutch, are absent from the rest of the volume, which has a slightly anticlimactic feel to it. A major asset of the book, however, is the rich variety of examples drawn from different text sources, regions and periods, giving scholars the opportunity to reflect on their own data. Although one might not agree on all terminological choices or interpretations, the many illustrative examples offer historical (socio)linguists ample insights into contact phenomena in multilingual writing, and how to examine them. They could also serve as sources of inspiration for linguistics students (certainly Schendl’s and Mihm’s overview chapters), although some case studies are perhaps too specialised and technical for this group of readers. Theoretically and methodologically, but particularly empirically, the volume has the potential to contribute to a better understanding of code-switching – and other multilingual practices – in past societies, in the German-speaking world and beyond.