Invisibilising Austrian German - On the effect of linguistic prescriptions and educational reforms on writing practices in 18th-century Austria
Verlag | De Gruyter |
Auflage | 2018 |
Seiten | 256 |
Format | 17,6 x 1,9 x 24,7 cm |
Gewicht | 599 g |
Artikeltyp | Englisches Buch |
Reihe | Lingua Historica Germanica 18 |
ISBN-10 | 3110546299 |
EAN | 9783110546293 |
Bestell-Nr | 11054629A |
This book provides an insight into the standardisation process of German in eighteenth-century Austria. It describes how norms prescribed by grammarians were actually implemented via a school reform carried out by educationalist Johann Ignaz Felbiger on the order of Empress Maria Theresa. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken of certain Upper German features (e-apocope, the absence of the prefix ge- and the ending -t in past participles, and variants of the verb form sind) in reading primers, issues of the Wienerisches Diarium / Wiener Zeitung and petitionary letters. These reveal how such variants became increasingly 'invisible' in writing. This process of 'invisibilisation', i.e. a process of stigmatization which prevents the use of certain varieties and variants in writing, can be attributed to a number of factors: Empress Maria Theresa's appeal for a language reform, the normative work by eighteenth-century grammarians, the implementation of educational ref orms, and the early introduction of East Central German variants in newspaper issues.