Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

German

Major Professor

Henry Kratz

Committee Members

John Osborne, David Lee, Mary Richards

Abstract

This study describes the dialect of the Nurnberger Briefbucher (NBB) for 1519 in an effort to determine its position in relation to the rise of modern standard German and Lutherdeutsch, and to try to devise a standardized method whereby other texts can be analyzed and their positions vis-a-vis Luther can be shown. The Nurnberg dialect was chosen because, in the sixteenth century, it was exposed to and perhaps influenced by other dialects through trade, travel and the regular meeting of the Imperial Diet, and was situated on the Bavarian/Franconian--and thus an Upper German/Middle German—dialect interface. The year was chosen so that the text was contemporaneous with, but not yet influenced by, Luther's language. To form a basis for comparison with Lutherdeutsch and other Early New High German dialects, the study analyzes the phonology, morphology, syntax, and to some extent, the vocabulary of the NBB, and then compares the dialect to Luther's language. Special attention is paid to linguistic characteristics which mark the transition from Middle High German to New High German, as well as those which identify specific dialects of the medieval and modern periods. Although in all areas there are some medieval characteristics to be found–e.g., the absence of unrounding, the lack of vowel leveling in present tense singular verbs, or the frequent use of ^ as a relative clause introducer—the language is basically modern in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Semantically it is somewhat less modern. The dialect appears to be essentially a Bavarian/Franconian mixture with few extreme dialect forms. Lutherdeutsch is somewhat less modern than the NBB dialect, for example in the retention of the third plural present indicative verb ending -ent, or of the dative personal pronoun in for ihnen and dative im/ir/in for sich, or in the less consistent use of strong and weak adjective declensions. The relationship between Lutherdeutsch and the dialect of the Nurnberg chancery may be described as follows: Luther's language is Middle German, whereas that of the NBB has some Upper German characteristics. However, the two have more in common than in contrast.

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