.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (May 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 8,921 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Sprachgebrauch in der DDR]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template ((Translated|de|Sprachgebrauch in der DDR)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

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 also includes two separate vocabularies, both different from the German of the Bundesrepublik: the official Socialist one (Newspeak [6] or officialese) and the critically humorous one of everyday life.[7][8][9]

Examples

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Controversies

References

  1. ^ Müller, Gerhard (1994), "Der "Besserwessi" und die "innere Mauer". Anmerkungen zum Sprachgebrauch im vereinigten Deutschland", In "Muttersprache. Vierteljahresschrift für deutsche Sprache" (in German): 119 ff
  2. ^ 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 ostdeusche Betonung sprachlicher Differenz
  3. ^ Peter Von Polenz (1999): Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmittelater bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 3: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter, 776 p. ISBN 3110143445 and ISBN 9783110143447, p. 428
  4. ^ Ibid, p.424-425
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ "Culture : One Germany, Two Languages, Much Confusion : East and West developed their own lexicons during 40 years of separation. Some variations are minor, but others reflect different ways of looking at the world". Los Angeles Times. 16 August 1994.
  7. ^ "Sprache und Sprachgebrauch in der DDR". 15 October 2010.
  8. ^ "How the German language differed between East and West". 21 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Language split: East German for Beginners".
  10. ^ Mary Williams Walsh (16 August 1994). "Culture: One Germany, Two Languages, Much Confusion: East and West developed their own lexicons during 40 years of separation. Some variations are minor, but others reflect different ways of looking at the world". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Culture: One Germany, Two Languages, Much Confusion: East and West developed their own lexicons during 40 years of separation. Some variations are minor, but others reflect different ways of looking at the world". Los Angeles Times. 16 August 1994.
  12. ^ Mrozek, Bodo (25 December 2006). "Wortmysterium "Jahresendflügelfigur": Wer sagt denn so was!". Der Spiegel.

Bibliography

In German

In English

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