Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Places mentioned in the text
- German, Dutch and Frisian dialects
- Introduction
- 1 The status of German in contemporary Europe
- 2 German as a pluricentric language
- 3 German in divided and unified Germany
- 4 Language and regionalism in Germany and Austria
- 5 Communication patterns
- 6 Gender, generation and politics – variation and change in language and discourse
- 7 Communication norms and communication barriers
- 8 Recent Anglo-American influence
- Closing remarks
- Glossary of linguistic terms used
- Bibliography
- Subject index
- Index of names
7 - Communication norms and communication barriers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Places mentioned in the text
- German, Dutch and Frisian dialects
- Introduction
- 1 The status of German in contemporary Europe
- 2 German as a pluricentric language
- 3 German in divided and unified Germany
- 4 Language and regionalism in Germany and Austria
- 5 Communication patterns
- 6 Gender, generation and politics – variation and change in language and discourse
- 7 Communication norms and communication barriers
- 8 Recent Anglo-American influence
- Closing remarks
- Glossary of linguistic terms used
- Bibliography
- Subject index
- Index of names
Summary
This chapter deals with some ongoing issues concerning norms in the German language, including the international controversy on orthographic reform. It then addresses the nature of communication barriers within German and Austrian societies, including limited access to information.
Language norms and language planning in German
Language planning may be defined as policy formulation and implementation, by official and non-official bodies, on the creation, alphabetization, standardization and use of languages. Two types of language planning (treatment) are usually differentiated (Kloss 1967): status planning, which emphasizes questions concerning the language as a totality and in relation to other languages (e.g. the international spread of German, see Chapter 1, and when to use dialect and Standard, see Chapter 4), and corpus planning, which is preoccupied with normative questions such as correctness and efficiency of particular forms.
The German language does not possess central language planning authorities like the Académie Francaise, nor does the parliament of any German-language country pass laws concerning standard forms, as is the case in Norway (Haugen 1966). During the National Socialist regime, the Reichspresseamt (Reich Press Office) did possess and exercise planning powers, e.g. on 13 December 1937, it ‘abolished’ the word Völkerbund (League of Nations) and on 1 September 1939, it declared that tapfer (brave) could be collocated only with deutsch! (Berning 1964:163–4).
There has been a ‘purist’ movement with a long tradition in Germany which has concerned itself with Sprachpjlege, i.e. stylistics.
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- Information
- The German Language in a Changing Europe , pp. 175 - 199Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995