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The Sociolinguistic State of Alemannic Dialects

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The Sociolinguistic State of Alemannic Dialects The Sociolinguistic State of Alemannic Dialects Carl Bodnaruk A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Languages) (Honours) Department of Linguistics Department of Germanic Studies University of Sydney November 2020 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to firstly thank my supervisors Associate Professor Lisa Lim and Dr Tristan Lay for their endless guidance and assistance throughout the year, despite the nightmare of COVID-19. Thank you also to the Honours Coordinators, Professor Nick Enfield and Dr Brangwen Stone, for their administrative support and guidance throughout the year, and additionally to Nick for his assistance in our weekly honours cohort meetings. I would also like to thank Frau Friedel Scheer-Nahor, Herr Franz-Josef Winterhalter and the Muettersproch-Gsellschaft for their support in the distribution and legitimisation of the study details to their membership, and Iain Semple for putting me in touch with Herr Winterhalter. I must also, of course, thank the over 100 people who participated in the study, and would like to further thank those who answered further questions in interviews. Thank you to my family for supporting me throughout the year, listening to my non-stop thoughts, worries, and ideas during lockdown, around the house and on daily dog walks. And lastly, thanks to Drew, Ed, Eddie, Sean, Seb, Zoe, and everyone in the Linguistics Society. The data collection component of this thesis was approved by the University of Sydney HREC, protocol number [2020/394]. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ vi Tables ............................................................................................................................................................................. vi 1 Introduction and Literature Review .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Why Alemannic? ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 German Dialect Groups .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2.2 Background of sociolinguistics .............................................................................................. 3 1.2.3 Scholarship of Social Dialectology in Germany ............................................................. 6 1.2.4 Research Questions and Scope .............................................................................................. 7 2 Methodology .................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Preamble ................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.2 Preliminary Contact .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Design of Study .................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Survey .................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.4.1 Content ............................................................................................................................................ 10 2.4.2 Structure ......................................................................................................................................... 11 2.4.3 Distribution ................................................................................................................................... 12 2.5 Follow-up Interviews .................................................................................................................... 13 2.5.1 Interview Design and Schedule .......................................................................................... 13 2.5.2 Interviewee Selection .............................................................................................................. 14 2.6 Overview of Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 14 3 Study – Alemannic in Germany ........................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Overview of the survey results ................................................................................................. 16 3.2 Overview of the interviews ........................................................................................................ 17 3.3 Demographics comparison ......................................................................................................... 17 3.4 Usage ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.5 Attitudes ............................................................................................................................................... 23 3.6 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 25 4 Overview of Alemannic in France and Switzerland .................................................................. 27 4.1 Alsace ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.1 Regional Overview .................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.2 Dialect Situation ......................................................................................................................... 28 iv 4.2 Switzerland ......................................................................................................................................... 31 4.2.1 Regional Overview .................................................................................................................... 31 4.2.2 Dialect Situation ......................................................................................................................... 32 4.3 Cross-Border Comparison .......................................................................................................... 33 5 External Influences on Alemannic ..................................................................................................... 36 5.1 South Baden, Germany ................................................................................................................. 36 5.1.1 Development of Written Standard German ................................................................. 36 5.1.2 Development of Spoken Standard German .................................................................. 36 5.2 Alsace, France .................................................................................................................................... 37 5.2.1 Historical Shifts ........................................................................................................................... 37 5.2.2 Rise of French in Alsace .......................................................................................................... 37 5.2.3 Alsatian Regionalist Autonomy Movement .................................................................. 38 5.3 Switzerland ......................................................................................................................................... 39 5.3.1 Adoption of Standard German ............................................................................................ 39 5.3.2 Maintenance of Alemannic in Speaking ......................................................................... 40 5.3.3 Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 41 6 Conclusion – External Influences on Diglossia ............................................................................ 42 6.1 Major Socio-Political Events ...................................................................................................... 42 6.2 Government Language Policy ................................................................................................... 43 6.3 Social and Cultural Attitudes ..................................................................................................... 43 6.4 The Stability of Diglossia and the Future of Alemannic .............................................. 44 References ................................................................................................................................................................
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