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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1438

Part of Plenary lectures (Other abstracts in this session)

Standardization and diversification: the urban sociolinguistics of German

Authors: Auer, Peter
Submitted by: Auer, Peter (Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Germany)

This plenary will focus on the role of the large cities mainly in the post-WW2 development of German. I will begin with a short overview of the traditional German linguistic landscape which was characterized by the absence of a clear political, economic and cultural center and the maintenance of a polycentric language structure well into the 20th century. In this period, the German cities played a double role. On the one hand, they favored the spread of the written standard language and were instrumental for the establishment of regional oral standard varieties; on the other hand, urbanization as a corollary of industrialization and labor migration also led to the emergence of urban non-standard varieties distinct from the traditional dialects.

The main part of the plenary will be devoted to two issues: (a) the impact of the cities and their language on the transformation of the traditional dialects and the establishment of national oral standard varieties from the mid-20th century onwards, and (b) the role of the cities in the development of ethnic and polyethnic ways of speaking starting before the end of the last century. The first topic is deeply linked to the transformation of regional standard varieties into regional accents, the spread of the regional standard varieties and regional standard accents from the urban centers into the countryside, and the strengthening of the national standard varieties in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. While these processes have led to a reduction of geographical variation and increasing standardization (and "demotization") at the national level, the emergence of (poly-)ethnic ways of speaking has had the opposite effect of making German more heterogeneous. Once again, homogenizing (centripedal) and diversifying (centrifugal) forces are at work at the same time, although they are today situated a different scale (global migration and media, local counter-forces).