Zur Sprachenpolitik im Elsass 1871-1918

Abstract

This thesis presents the language policy of the German Empire in Alsace from 1871 to 1918. The language situation and its transformations are described as a result of the influence of language planning / language policy. For this research, discourse consists of corresponding documents related to language use; drawing on the language management theory, they are primarily classified according to the individual phases of language management. Changes in the linguistic situation and the nature of the German language policy are shown based on alterations of the language use in domains such as education, administration, provincial council, justice, military, or church and in the fields of proper names, toponyms, and inscriptions. In the process of language management, language production in those areas is managed by evaluation and by various correction measures in consequence of noting of the deviation from a norm. In the domain of education, the acquisition planning, German progressively became the sole language of education in many schools; despite the effort of Alsatians, French was taught only exceptionally. In administration, German shifted to the position of the primary language although French was permitted in some communes as an official language. In the provincial council, the period of bilingualism...