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

Controversies

  • Jahresendflügelfigur – has been probably invented as a parody of state language.[12]
  • Erdmöbel – allegedly coffin

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

  • 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
  • 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
  • Martin Ahrends (ed.): Trabbi, Telespargel und Tränenpavillon – Das Wörterbuch der DDR-Sprache. Heyne, München 1986 ISBN 3453023579
  • Wolf Oschlies: Würgende und wirkende Wörter – Deutschsprechen in der DDR. Holzapfel, Berlin 1989 ISBN 3921226341
  • Margot Heinemann: Kleines Wörterbuch der Jugendsprache. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1990 ISBN 3323002733
  • 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. online bei Google-Books
  • Jan Eik: DDR-Deutsch: eine entschwundene Sprache. Jaron, Berlin 2010 ISBN 9783897736450
  • 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

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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