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Language variation, language change and perceptual dialectology

Published/Copyright: January 14, 2011
Multilingua
From the journal Volume 29 Issue 3-4

Abstract

Subjective and objective language data collected in a research project on language variation in north Germany not only reveal information on current linguistic trends in north Germany; they also show how language change in this region is represented in the consciousness of the speakers themselves and described in comments by them. This diachronic dimension is supported, in the case of Brandenburg, by means of lexicographical data and recordings that were made within the framework of the Brandenburg/ Berlin Dictionary compiled around 1960. It becomes clear that the original area of Low German varieties in Brandenburg has, for a long time time now, not been structured by distinct languages or the polarity between dialect and standard, but rather by certain varieties of spoken German (vsG) or ‘Sprachlagen’ that display regional features alongside everyday linguistic forms and – at least this is my hypothesis – are developing into a regional standard variety.

Keywords:: linguistic variation; perceptual dialectology; language change; regional standard variety; Brandenburg
Department of German, University of Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, Germany. e-mail:
Published Online: 2011-01-14
Published in Print: 2010-November

© 2010 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/New York

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  2. Imbodela zamakhumsha – Reflections on standardization and destandardization
  3. Lambs to the slaughter? Young francophones and the role of English in Quebec today
  4. Can parallelingualism save Norwegian from extinction?
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  7. Is there a European language history?
  8. Language variation, language change and perceptual dialectology
  9. Will Dutch become Flemish? Autonomous developments in Belgian Dutch
  10. Chaos and standards: Orthography in the Southern Netherlands (1720–1830)
  11. Book reviews
  12. Publications received
  13. Contents Multilingua Volume 29 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2010.018
Keywords for this article
linguistic variation; perceptual dialectology; language change; regional standard variety; Brandenburg

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Introduction
  2. Imbodela zamakhumsha – Reflections on standardization and destandardization
  3. Lambs to the slaughter? Young francophones and the role of English in Quebec today
  4. Can parallelingualism save Norwegian from extinction?
  5. Using folk songs as a source for dialect change? The pervasive effects of attitudes
  6. Language contact and language conflict in autochthonous language minority settings in the EU: A preliminary round-up of guiding principles and research desiderata
  7. Is there a European language history?
  8. Language variation, language change and perceptual dialectology
  9. Will Dutch become Flemish? Autonomous developments in Belgian Dutch
  10. Chaos and standards: Orthography in the Southern Netherlands (1720–1830)
  11. Book reviews
  12. Publications received
  13. Contents Multilingua Volume 29 (2010)
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