Der Deutsche Sprachatlas und Sprachatlas-Projekte in englischsprachigen Werken (Auswahl)

"In the romantic view German dialects are frequently seen as the repositories of genuine old, untainted German. This view is, of course, just as erroneous as the above opposite opinion. The dialects are no older and no younger than the standard. They preserve many features which NHG has shed. On the other hand they are in many ways more modern, e.g. by being more analytic in their grammatical structure or by having done away with certain features of the MHG phoneme inventory (e.g. the rounded front vowels) which NHG preserves. What makes their study so interesting and so rewarding, however, is that they mingle old and new in a way unlike that of NHG. In them we may find as a living reality what we otherwise can only reconstruct from the documents which have come down to us from the Middle Ages, or they can give us a glimpse of what NHG might be like in future should the reins of strict norm ever be relaxed." (Keller, German Dialects, p. 7)

"The first comprehensive study was made in North and Central Germany by Georg Wenker." (Bolinger, Aspects p. 347)
"With the well over forty thousand responses he received, he [Wenker] inaugurated the first linguistic atlas [...]" (Gaeng, Introduction p. 171)
"The result, apparent from the very start, of Wenker's study, was a surprise [...] (Bloomfield, Language p. 322)
"As Wenker realised at a very early date [...], isoglosses [...] rarely coincide exactly." (Collinge, Encyclopaedia p. 938)
"Some well known examples are: the geographical survey inspired by Wenker, through which Ueda Mannen (1867-1937) established the whole theory of dialect units [...] (Grootaers, Dialectology p. 589)
"To this day scholars who wish to use the German materials must go to the archives in Marburg." (Lehmann, Historical Linguistics p. 118)
"[...] the material compiled in Marburg constitutes a vast database for more theoretical research." (Barbour & Stevenson, Variation p. 61)

  1. Allen, Harold B., & Michael D. Linn (eds.): Dialect and Language Variation. Orlando & London 1986, p. 3 [C 500 abe]
  2. Barbour, Stephen, & Patrick Stevenson: Variation in German. A critical approach to German sociolinguistics. Cambridge (UP) 1990, pp. 59-65 [Af 378]
  3. Bloomfield, Leonard: Language. London 1965, p. 322 f. [Ag 191]
  4. Bolinger, Dwight: Aspects of Language. Second Edition. N.Y. 1975, p. 347 [Ag 336]
  5. Chambers, J.K., & Peter Trudgill: Dialectology. Cambridge 1980, p. 18 f. u.a. [C 501 ab]
  6. Collinge, N.E. (ed.): An Encyclopaedia of Language, London & N.Y. 1990, pp. 924, 934, 938 f., 943, 948, 951 f. [Ag 1a]
  7. Dialect atlas. In: Crystal, David: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages. Oxford 1992, p.101
  8. Dialect atlases. In: The New Encyclopedia Britannica in 30 Vols., Macropaedia, Volume 5 (1976), p. 699 (r); cf. Encycl. Brit. 7 (1963), p. 356 (r) <BN 10/12(7)>
  9. Dialectology. In: International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Vol. I (Oxford 1992), p. 349 f.
  10. Dieth, Eugen: A New Survey of English Dialects, in: Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, Vol. XXXII (1946), Oxford 1947, p. 47 [C 1758 b]
  11. Entwistle, William J.: Aspects of Language. London (1951?), p. 89 (G. Wenker, DSA, 1926) [Ag 294]
  12. Forschungsinstitut für deutsche Sprache "Deutscher Sprachatlas". In: The World of Learning, 21st Edition 1970-71 (London 1971), p. 496 f. <BN 10/48>
  13. Gaeng, Paul A.: Introduction to the Principles of Language. N.Y. 1971, p. 171 [Ag 395]
  14. Grootaers, Willem A.: Dialectology. In: Current Trends in Linguistics Vol. II (The Hague & Paris 1967); p. 588 f. [AG 40]
  15. Keller, R.E.: German Dialects. Manchester 1961 p. 4, 19 (Karte p. 111) [C 501 t]
  16. Koerner, Konrad: Practicing Linguistic Historiography. Selected Essays. Amsterdam/Philadelphia 1989, p. 365 [Ag 213p]
  17. Kurath, Hans, Studies in Area Linguistics, Ontario 1972, p. 1 und Bibliographie, p. 200; 202 [C 500 g]
  18. Lehmann, Winfred P.: Historical Linguistics. Third Edition. N.Y. 1992, p. 118 f. [Ag 213]
  19. MLA, Annual Bibliography (for) 1956, N.Y. 1964, p. 347 (Dt. Sprachatlas)
  20. Mitzka, Walther. In: Who's Who in Germany, 2nd ed., Munich 1960, p. 982 (m. Erwähnung seiner Projekte) [Lb2b2]
  21. Moulton, W.G.: Geographical Linguistics. In: Current Trends [...], Vol. 9 (1972); p. 196-198; 200; 206
  22. Noble, C.A.M.: Modern German Dialects, N.Y. 1983, p. 25-28; Karte p. 111, 124 [C 501 p]
  23. Petyt, K.M.: The Study of Dialect. London 1980, p. 40 f., 45 [C 500a]

(Bibliothekssignaturen des DSA in eckigen,  des Engl. Seminars in spitzen Klammern)

Internationale WWW-Links:

  1. Deutsch im Netz: German dialects (College of Arts & Sciences, Univ. of South Florida)
  2. Dialekte (Wenkersätze; Anthony Niesz, Yale University)
  3. Dt. Bibliographie (Univ. of Wisconsin)
  4. Geographical Linguistics (Worldnet.net)
  5. German Dialect Links (SENet, Australien)
  6. Germanic Periodicals at OSU Libraries (Ohio State University)
  7. German Studies: A Guide to Resources (Univ. Manchester)
  8. The History of German Dialects (Univ. of Illinois)
  9. Infoplease Encyclopedia on dialect (Infoplease.com)
  10. Language Maps, Dialect Atlases, etc. (Univ. of Illinois)
  11. Language Variations: The Case of German Dialects (Univ. Georgetown, Kurs)
  12. Max Kade Center: Documenting German Settlement Dialects in Kansas (Univ. of Kansas)
  13. Michael Zimmer's Diary (varieties of German for the Deutscher Sprachatlas; Univ. of Wisconsin)

Wird ergänzt. (c) W. Näser. MR  * Stand: 23.2.2000