Language Change in Early Modern Nuremberg : A Study of Dialect Contact, Urban Vernacular Formation, and Their Sociohistorical Influences
出版項
2018
說明
1 online resource (283 pages)
文字
text
無媒介
computer
成冊
online resource
附註
Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 80-03, Section: A
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis
Advisor: Howell, Robert B
Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2018
Includes bibliographical references
Located in an area bordering North Bavarian and East Franconian dialect regions, Nuremberg seems to have formed a dialect that cannot be fully attributed exclusively to one region or the other. High levels of demographic movement, and in turn those sociological factors influencing these shifts (immigration, population turnover, etc.), provided the setting necessary for the development of a unique linguistic area. This study investigates the formation and potential focusing of the Nuremberg dialect during the Early Modern Period through an in-depth analysis of Nuremberg’s diminutive suffix system. Based on modern dialects, we know that the diminutive suffixes settled out as follows: [chart omitted.] In the midst of dialects with distinct singular and plural diminutive suffixes, Nuremberg has developed a system that does not mark the singular plural distinction. Nuremberg is located along an isogloss separating two such systems (as illustrated in the table) (Maurer 1972: 101-2). When one applies both isoglosses, the Nuremberg area forms an island. In Nuremberg’s dialect area, we see the -la diminutive suffix applied to both singular and plural forms. Traditional grammars have focused primarily on a phonological explanation of the development of the diminutive suffixes, referring to a weakening of an original -lein suffix, but give little explanation as to why or how varying suffix systems came about (Gebhardt 1907, Renn 2009, Moser and Stopp 1978). This study draws connections between the development of an urban dialect and sociohistorical factors, using informal correspondence as a data source. I argue that the development of the Nuremberg dialect, including its diminutive suffix system, corresponds to large population shifts. During the Early Modern Period high numbers of immigrants entered the city as a constant source of necessary population replacement and renewal. This constant renewal of the population from various areas brought with it an influx of speakers from multiple dialect areas, which had varying diminutive suffix systems. This influx provided highly heterogeneous input from which young learners had to create their own individual grammars. This study also builds and expands upon similar extensive research done on Nuremberg dialect formation, for example Lippi-Green (1994) on the development of Nuremberg’s consonant system and Fertig (2000) on verbal inflection in early modern Nuremberg. It also follows the precedent set by studies done on koine development, for example Kerswill and Williams’ “New Town” study (2000), as well as that of Howell (2006) and Goss and Howell (2006) on the development of early modern Dutch urban vernaculars
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2019
