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Overview
"In 1995 an official reform of German orthography was announced and a new set of rules for spelling and punctuation was introduced into schools between 1998 and 2005. These changes, however, unleashed a wave of public protest such that by the beginning of 1996 the question of how the German language should be written had evolved into a major judicial wrangle requiring the intervention of the Federal Constitutional Court." "In this book Sally Johnson explores the linguistic, cultural and political issues underpinning the constitutional challenge brought by various individuals and groups against the reform. Drawing on sociolinguistic theories of language ideology, Johnson critically analyses the conflicting views of language that were produced, reproduced and challenged in the course of this dispute. At the same time her book attempts to situate those ideologies, together with the dispute as a whole, within the wider historical context of state involvement in the standardisation of German orthography from the mid-19th century onwards." Spelling Trouble? will be of interest to speakers and students of German as well as sociolinguists studying language politics, language planning and language ideology.Synopsis
In 1995 an official reform of German orthography was announced and subsequently introduced into schools, unleashing a wave of public protest that culminated in action by the Federal Constitutional Court. Johnson (linguistics, U. of Leeds) explores the linguistic, cultural and political questions underpinning the constitutional challenge against the reform and analyzes the conflicting views of language evident in the debate. She also places the dispute in its historical context. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Book Details
Published
March 1, 2005
Publisher
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Pages
192
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781853597855