Invisibilising Austrian German : : On the effect of linguistic prescriptions and educational reforms on writing practices in 18th-century Austria / / Anna Dorothea Havinga.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2018 Part 1
• VerfasserIn: Havinga, Anna Dorothea,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Lingua Historica Germanica : Studien und Quellen zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur , 18
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XVI, 256 p.) :; 59 Tabellen

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 reforms, and the early introduction of East Central German variants in newspaper issues.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Abbreviations and notes on presentation -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Language, Enlightenment and education in 18th-century Austria -- 3. Grammarians’ norm prescriptions -- 4. The implementation of the language reform -- 5. Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index