Language Purification Attempts during the German Empire

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject German Studies - Linguistics grade: 1 University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar) language: English abstract: The year 1871 brought Germany a victory over France concluding the Franco-Prussian War and ended with the founding of the Deutsches Reich the GermanEmpire. As a result of the nationalistic elation felt all through society Herman Riegelmuseum curator and art historian in Mannheim published his Ein Hauptstück vonunserer Mutterprache a text that established him as the foremost agitator in awidespread campaign against the adoption of foreign words into the Germanlanguage. Riegel then called for the formation of a German language associationresponsible for the purification of the German dictionary from words borrowed fromother languages most notably French and occasionally English. In 1885 supportedby similar-minded academics and politicians nationwide such als gymnasiumprofessor Hermann Dunger Riegel presided over the establisment of theAllgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein the universal German Language Association(ADSV). It's objectives were laid down as follows:1. Projects advancing the purification of the German language cleansing it from„unneccessary foreign particles2. Preservation and renovation of „the real spirit und unique character of the Germanlanguage3. Strengthening the „general and overall national awareness of all Germans notonly concerning language but also concerning „German-ness in general. The following essay will concentrate on the main ADSV projects from 1885 until thestart of the First World War in 1914 on its project successes and failures especially concerning the incorporation of foreign words via translation and on the inevitabilityof massive problems during the transferral of general linguistic principles into thelanguage actually used outside academic circles.