What question did this study set out to answer?

The central aim is to analyze diatopic variation in historical standard German using key lexical items.

March 6, 2026Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (PBB)0 citationsOpen Access

Diatopische Variation im Standarddeutschen historisch betrachtet

KNKonstantin NiehausSalzburg University of Applied Sciences LFLaura FischlhammerSalzburg University of Applied Sciences

Key Points

The central aim is to analyze diatopic variation in historical standard German using key lexical items.
Variational analysis of specific lexical items like Jänner/Januar and Samstag/Sonnabend.
Examination of orthographic codices from 1870 to 1990 and newspaper usage from 1870 to 1950.
Utilization of historical DTA/DWDS corpora for genre-sensitive evidence.
Discussion of methodological challenges including balanced corpus design.
Analysis of source scarcity between 1950 and 1990.
Demonstrated early significance of diatopic variation in the standard lexicon.
Highlighted the challenges in sourcing and analyzing historical variations.
Called for more detailed diachronic analyses of the standard German lexicon.

Abstract

Abstract There is but little research on the diatopic variation within historic standard German. This article presents a variational analysis of frequent lexical items, Jänner / Januar (›January‹), Samstag / Sonnabend (›Saturday‹), and heuer / dieses Jahr (›this year‹), in both orthographic codices 1870–1990 and standards of usage in newspapers 1870–1950. This is complemented with further genre-sensitive evidence from the historical DTA/DWDS corpora as well as a discussion of methodological challenges, such as a balanced corpus design and the scarcity of sources 1950–1990. The findings underscore the early significance of diatopic variation in the standard lexicon and call for more nuanced diachronic analyses.

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