East German language
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The German language in East Germany (DDR), during its existence as a separate state from 1949 to 1990, developed differently from the German of West Germany because of significant differences in the country's political and socio-cultural environment. Additionally, from the late 1960s onwards, the political leaders of the DDR were intent on affirming the independence of their state by "isolationist linguistic politics"[1] with the objective of demarcating East Germany from West Germany by actively reducing the unity of the German language.[2]
This political effort did not amount to the creation of a new language in the DDR but brought about a particular usage of the language and of linguistic behaviours specific to it,[3] felt not in syntax or grammar, but in vocabulary,[4] and manifesting itself in both the official and non-official spheres.[5]
The result was that the German of the former East Germany includes two separate vocabularies: the official Socialist one (Newspeak [6] or officialese) and the critically humorous one of everyday life.[7][8][9]
Examples
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The word 'Der Führer' (Adolf Hitler) was replaced:
- Führerschein - Fahrerlaubnis
- Kader - personnel
- Rauhfutter verzehrende Großvieheinheit - cow. The long name is currently used in ecological calculations.
- Winkelement - flag
- Der antifaschistische Schutzwall - Berlin Wall
- Kollektiv - work team
- Tal der Ahnungslosen - two regions not able to receive TV programming from West Germany
Controversies
- Jahresendflügelfigur - has been probably invented as a parody of state language.[11]
- Erdmöbel - allegedly coffin
References
- ↑ Müller, Gerhard (1994), "Der "Besserwessi" und die "innere Mauer". Anmerkungen zum Sprachgebrauch im vereinigten Deutschland", in "Muttersprache. Vierteljahresschrift für deutsche Sprache" (in Deutsch): 119 ff.
- ↑ Hellmann, Manfred. Deutsche Sprache in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. In: Althaus, Hans Peter u.a. (eds.). Lexikon der germanistischen Linguistik. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1980, p.520: see the paragraph on die ostdeutsche Betonung sprachlicher Differenz
- ↑ Peter Von Polenz (1999): Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 3: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter, 776 p. ISBN 3110143445 Search this book on
. and ISBN 9783110143447 Search this book on ., p. 428
- ↑ Ibid, p.424-425
- ↑ On the distinction between the two, see Gotthard Lerchner (1996), Sprachgebrauch im Wandel: Anmerkungen zur Kommunikationskultur in der DDR vor und nach der Wende, Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ [5]
- ↑ [6]
Bibliography
In German
- Frank Thomas Grub: „Wende“ und „Einheit“ im Spiegel der deutschsprachigen Literatur. Ein Handbuch. Band 1: Untersuchungen. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2003 ISBN 3110177757 Search this book on .
- Hugo Moser: Sprachliche Folgen der politischen Teilung Deutschlands. Beihefte zum „Wirkenden Wort“ 3. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1962
- Michael Kinne, Birgit Strube-Edelmann: Kleines Wörterbuch des DDR-Wortschatzes (2nd edn). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981 ISBN 3590155094 Search this book on .
- Martin Ahrends (ed.): Trabbi, Telespargel und Tränenpavillon – Das Wörterbuch der DDR-Sprache. Heyne, München 1986 ISBN 3453023579 Search this book on .
- Wolf Oschlies: Würgende und wirkende Wörter – Deutschsprechen in der DDR. Holzapfel, Berlin 1989 ISBN 3921226341 Search this book on .
- Margot Heinemann: Kleines Wörterbuch der Jugendsprache. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1990 ISBN 3323002733 Search this book on .
- Manfred W. Hellmann: Divergenz und Konvergenz – Sprachlich-kommunikative Folgen der staatlichen Trennung und Vereinigung Deutschlands. In: Karin Eichhoff-Cyrus, Rudolf Hoberg (ed.): Die deutsche Sprache zur Jahrtausendwende – Sprachkultur oder Sprachverfall. Duden-Reihe Thema Deutsch, Band 1. Mannheim (Duden-Redaktion) and Wiesbaden (GfdS) 2000, pp. 247–275
- Marianne Schröder, Ulla Fix: Allgemeinwortschatz der DDR-Bürger – nach Sachgruppen geordnet und linguistisch kommentiert. Heidelberg 1997
- Birgit Wolf: Sprache in der DDR. Ein Wörterbuch. de Gruyter, Berlin und New York 2000 ISBN 3110164272 Search this book on .. online bei Google-Books
- Jan Eik: DDR-Deutsch: eine entschwundene Sprache. Jaron, Berlin 2010 ISBN 9783897736450 Search this book on .
- Norbert Nail: Jenseits des „breiten Steins“: Studentendeutsch in der DDR. In: Studenten-Kurier 3/2013, pp. 15–17
- Antje Baumann: Mit der Schwalbe zur Datsche. Wörter aus einem verschwundenen Land. Bibliographisches Institut – Duden, Berlin, 2020 ISBN 9783411745326 Search this book on .
In English
- Russ, C. (2002). The German language today: A linguistic introduction. Routledge. (See Chapter 5 German in East Germany)
- Stevenson, P. (2002). Language and German disunity: a sociolinguistic history of East and West in Germany, 1945-2000. Oxford University Press
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