Abstract
This chapter is concerned with reconstructing the processes of codification and implementation of orthography by exploring how certain norms find their way into actual language use. The test case chosen here is the codification and subsequent implementation of orthography in Luxembourgish. As a primarily spoken language, originating from a Central Franconian dialect and achieving high positive prestige as the national language since the end of the nineteenth century, Luxembourgish can today be regarded as an Aus bau language, which has conquered several new domains. Although historically closely related to German, Luxembourgish is today evaluated by the speech community as an autonomous language. Learned as the first language of the majority of Luxembourgers, the language is embedded in a complex multilingual setting where it shares domains and functions with German and French (see Horner and Weber, 2008; Fehlen, 2009). Because of a high proportion of foreign residents due to immigration (44 per cent), the language situation is characterized by extensive multilingualism, French predominating (see Fehlen, 2011). While both German and French are intensively taught in school, Luxembourgish, although the first language of approximately 60 per cent of the population, forms only a rudimentary part of the school curriculum.
I would like to thank Julia de Bres and the editors Wini Davies and Evelyn Ziegler for valuable input to the present chapter.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ammon, U. (2003) ‘On the social forces that determine what is standard in a language and on conditions of successful implementation’, Socidinguistica, 17, 1–10.
Androutsopoulos, J. (2003) ‘Online-Gemeinschaften und Sprachvariation. Soziolinguistische Perspektiven auf Sprache im Internet’, Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik, 31, 173–97.
Androutsopoulos, J. (2011) ‘Language change and digital media: A review of conceptions and evidence’ in T. Rristiansen and N. Coupland (eds) Standard Languages and Language Standards in a Changing Europe (Oslo: No vus Press).
Armstrong, N. (2013) Standardization, Ideology and Linguistics (Basingstoke and New York: Pal grave Macmillan).
Berg, G. (2006) ‘Abschied vom Dialekt. Zur lëtzebuergeschen belletristischen Gegenwartsliteratur’ in C. Moulin and D. Nühling (eds) Perspektiven einer linguistischen Luxemburgistik. Studien zu Diachronie und Synchronie (Heidelberg: Winter).
Evangeliar (2009) Lëtzebuerger Evangeliar (Luxembourg: éditions saint-paul).
Fehlen, F. (2009) BaleineBis: une enquête sur un marché linguistique multilingue en profonde mutation = Luxemburgs Sprachenmarkt im Wandel (Luxembourg: SESOPI Centre intercommaunitaire).
Fehlen, F. (2011) ‘Le statut du français sur le marché linguistique du Luxembourg-Le choix de la langue comme enjeu d’un champ scientifiqie en devenir’ in P. Gilles and M. Wagner (eds) Linguistische und soziolinguistische Bausteine der Luxemburgistik (Frankfurt a. Main: Peter Lang).
Gilles, P. (2006) ‘Dialektausgleich im Luxemburgischen’ in C. Moulin and D. Nübling (eds) Perspektiven einer linguistischen Luxemburgistik. Studien zu Diachronie und Synchronie (Heidelberg: Winter).
Gilles, P. (2009) ‘Jugendsprachliche Schriftlichkeit auf Luxemburgisch in den Neuen Medien’ in C. Berg, L. Kerger, N. Meisch and M. Milmeister (eds) Savoirs et engagements. Hommage à Georges Wirtgen (Differdange: Éditions Phi).
Gilles, P. (2011) ‘Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit in der luxemburgischen Sprachgemeinschaft’ in G. Mein and H. Sieburg (eds) Medien des Wissens. Interdisziplinäre Aspekte von Medialität (Bielefeld: transcript).
Gilles, P. and Moulin, C. (2003) ‘Luxembourgish’ in A. Deumert and W. Vanden-bussche (eds) Germanic Standardizations: Past to present (Philadelphia: Benjamins).
Gilles, P. and Trouvain, J. (2013) ‘Luxembourgish’, Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43(1), 67–74.
Haugen, E. (1966) ‘Linguistics and language planning’ in W. Bright (ed.) Sociolinguistics. Proceedings of the UCLA Sociolinguisti.es Conference, 1964 (The Hague and Paris: Mouton).
Horner, K. and Weber, J. J. (2008) ‘The language situation in Luxembourg’, Current Issues in Language Planning, 9(1), 69–128.
Jaffe, A., Androutsopoulos, J., Sebba, M. and Johnson, S. (2012) Orthography as Social Action: Scripts, spelling, identity and power (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter).
LOD (2007ff.) Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire — LOD. http://www.lod.lu/lod/ date accessed 31 January 2011.
LWB (1950–1977) Luxemburger Wörterbuch (5 vols) (Luxemburg). http://engelmann.uni.lu:8080/portal/wbb/woert erbuecher/lwb/wbgui
Mattheier, K. J. (1991) ‘Standardsprache als Sozialsymbol. Über kommunikativen gesellschaftlichen Wandels’ in R. Wimmer (ed.) Das 19. Jahrhundert. Sprachgeschichtliche Wurzeln des heutigen Deutsch (Berlin: de Gruyter).
Mémorial (1946) ‘Arrêté ministériel du 5 juin 1946 portant fixation d’un système d’orthographe luxembourgeoise’, in Mémorial du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 40, 637–41.
Mémorial (1976) ‘Arrêté ministériel du 10 octobre 1975 portant réforme d’un système officiel d’orthographe luxembourgeoise’, in Mémorial B — Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 68, 1365–90.
Mémorial (1999) ‘Reglement grand-ducal du 30 juillet 1999 portant réforme du système officiel d’orthographe luxembourgeoise’, in Mémorial A — Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 112, 2040–48.
Newton, G. (1993) ‘Allophonic variation in Luxembourgish palatal and alveolar-palatal fricatives: Discussion of an areal survey taken in 1979’ in J. L. Flood, P. Salmon, O. Syce and C. Wells (eds) ‘Das unsichtbare Band der Sprache’. Studies in German Language and Linguistic History in Memory of Leslie Seiffert (Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag).
Newton, G. (2000) ‘The spelling of Luxembourgish: Systems and developments since 1824’ in G. Newton (ed.) Essays on Politics, Language and Society in Luxembourg (Lewiston: Edwin Mellon Press).
R Core Team (2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Vienna, Austria). http://www.R-project.org
Sebba, M. (2007) Spelling and Society: The culture and politics of orthography around the world (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Sebba, M. (2009) ‘Sociolinguistic approaches to writing systems research’, Writing Systems Research, 1(1), 35–49.
Shortis, T. (2009) ‘Revoicing TXT. Spelling, vernacular orthography and “unregi-mented writing”’ in S. Wheeler (ed.) Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures: Cybercultures in online learning (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub).
Tagg, C. (2009) ‘A corpus linguistics study of SMS text messaging’, PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/ 253/l/Tagg09PhD.pdf, date accessed 1 October 2013.
Tophinke, D. (2002) ‘Schreiben gegen die Regel — Formen und Funktionen orthografischer Abweichungen im Internet Relay Chat (IRC)’ in M. Bommes, C. Noack and D. Tophinke (eds) Sprache als Form. Festschrift für Utz Maas (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag).
Welter, N. (1914) Das Luxemburgische und sein Schrifttum, 1st edn (Luxemburg: G. Soupert).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Peter Gilles
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gilles, P. (2015). From Status to Corpus: Codification and Implementation of Spelling Norms in Luxembourgish. In: Davies, W.V., Ziegler, E. (eds) Language Planning and Microlinguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137361240_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137361240_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47224-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36124-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Language & Linguistics CollectionEducation (R0)