Identity Kinship and identity

Indo-European languages -> German languages -> languages -> West Germanic -> Low German and Low Franconian
(after: Lewis 2009Lewis 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Lewis, M. Paul (red.) 2009. The Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International. [http://www.ethnologue.com/].
)

Language varieties that are closely related to the dialect under consideration include Low German (Low Saxon) varieties from Germany and the Netherlands, and also those used in the diaspora; additionally, to a lesser degree, Dutch languages (Frisian, Dutch) and Afrikaans. As a language which derives directly from Old Saxon, Low German is closely related to English. An extended family of West Germanic languages includes i. a. Frisian, Yiddish, and German (Lewis 2009Lewis 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Lewis, M. Paul (red.) 2009. The Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International. [http://www.ethnologue.com/].
).


Illustration: Map of Low German dialects within the borders of the present day Poland. The situation in 1900 (after: König 1991König 1991 / komentarz/comment/r /
König, Werner 1991. dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
).


Illustration: Map of German dialects. The situation in 1900 (after: König 1991: 230-23König 1991 / komentarz/comment/r /
König, Werner 1991. dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
1).

As claimed by Herrmann-Winter, to this day there is no full dialectal geography of the former Pommern province (Herrmann-Winter 1995: 178Herrmann-Winter 1995 / komentarz/comment/r /
Herrmann-Winter, Renate 1995. „Sprachen und Sprechen in Pommern”, Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch 118: 165-187.
). As can be seen on the attached maps, scholars divide the dialects under attention in different ways


Illustration: Language varieties in the Free City of Danzig and the surrounding areas (after: Pinnow 2006aPinnow 2006a / komentarz/comment/r /
Pinnow, Jürgen (red.) 2006a. Danzjer Uuleschpeejel. München: Lincom Europa.
).

While Jürgen Pinnow (2006a: 13Pinnow 2006a / komentarz/comment/r /
Pinnow, Jürgen (red.) 2006a. Danzjer Uuleschpeejel. München: Lincom Europa.
) distinguishes 10 German language varieties that are used in the Free City of Danzig, Łopuszańska (2008aŁopuszańska 2008a / komentarz/comment/r /
Łopuszańska, Grażyna 2008a. „Danziger Stadtsprache”, w: Marek Nekula & Verena Bauer & Albrecht Greule (red.) Deutsch in multilingualen Stadtzentren Mittel- und Osteuropas. Wien: Praesens-Verl.
), describing the same time and place, makes reference only to Low German, West Low Prussian and danziger missingsch, and it is primarily the question of minuteness of the division.
Apart from typically Low German dialects, in the urban areas one could also hear mixed dialects, so-called missingsch (e.g. Danzig – danziger missingsch). Scholars do not agree on the etymology of this name: it is derived either from Messing, the word for bronze which, as it is known, is an alloy of copper and tin (Erben 1974: 566Erben 1974 / komentarz/comment/r /
Erben, Johannes 1974. „Luther und die neuhochdeutsche Schriftsprache”, w: Friedrich Maurer & Heinz Rupp (red.) Deutsche Wortgeschichte. T. 2. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
), or from the definition of the process of mixing itself (Collitz 1911: 110Collitz 1911 / komentarz/comment/r /
Collitz, Herrmann 1911. „Missingsch”, Jahrbuch des Vereins für Niederdeutsche Sprachforschung XXXVII: 110-113.
), or even from the name of city Miśnia (Ger. Meiβen) (Erben 1974: 566Erben 1974 / komentarz/comment/r /
Erben, Johannes 1974. „Luther und die neuhochdeutsche Schriftsprache”, w: Friedrich Maurer & Heinz Rupp (red.) Deutsche Wortgeschichte. T. 2. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
).
Some of the varieties discussed constitute or constituted a separate language in the consciousness of the speakers. In 1639, Johannes Micraelius, rector of Pedagogium in Szczecin, was outraged because of the lack of priests who spoke Low German, and revulsion towards native language. However, Micraelius’s opinion did not necessarily reflect the true situation (Herrmann-Winter 1995: 173Herrmann-Winter 1995 / komentarz/comment/r /
Herrmann-Winter, Renate 1995. „Sprachen und Sprechen in Pommern”, Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch 118: 165-187.
).
In The Ethnologue’s database, Low German is treated as a unit. Among the dialects under consideration, The Ethnologue enlists: Marchian-Brandenburgian (which includes New Marchian), and identifies it with East Prussian (sic!); pomerano dialect from South America; Plautdietsch (Lewis 2009Lewis 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Lewis, M. Paul (red.) 2009. The Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International. [http://www.ethnologue.com/].
).

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ratified by Germany, recognizes Low German in the following landen (states in Germany): Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein. In the Charter ratified in the Netherlands, Low German was included under the name of Low Saxon. Polish linguistic politics does not recognise Low German.
Low German dialects were used predominantly by Germans. Manifestation of regional identity can be observed in the respective areas.
Bernhard Trittelvitz, a Pomeranian poet, used to write about his native language (Pomeranian) and land (Min Pommernland). In 1982, K. Granzow, also a poet, published a collection of texts of a reminiscent nature that refer to Pomerania; the collection included linguistic elements from the Low German dialect (Granzow 1982Granzow 1982 / komentarz/comment/r /
Granzow, Klaus (red.) 1982. Typisch Pommern: Heiteres, Besinnliches und auch Wissenswertes über das Land am Meer. Frankfurt: Weidlich.
). In a similar publication from 1920s, which relates to the region of Posen province, only High German is used (Laskowsky and Matthias 1926Laskowsky i Matthias 1926 / komentarz/comment/r /
Laskowsky, Paul & Marie Matthias (red.) 1926. Heimatklänge aus dem Osten eine Weihnachtsgabe für die ostmärkische Jugend. Berlin: Verlag des Deutschen Ostbundes.
). However, in 1933, one of its authors, M. Matthias, admitted that Posen dialect was unfamiliar to her before she had made some research in the field. She wrote: “The language in our land provides us with an insight into our folk nature – it confirms, above all, an old German imprint on our motherland” (Matthias 1933: 53Matthias 1933 / komentarz/comment/r /
Matthias, Marie 1933. „Gibt es eine posensche Mundart?”, Heimatkalender für den Kreis Deutsch-Krone 21: 51-53.
).
There are Pomeranian communities in the diaspora in the USA and Brazil, which have an identity based on awareness of distinct Pomeranian origin and language, distinct from a wider German community. Some former inhabitants of Warmia retained a strong sense of belonging to the region. Their identity might be influenced by the fact that, in comparison to other areas of Prussia, Warmia was unique because of a different faith (Catholicism) and different linguistic features, influenced by ca. three hundred years of the Polish rule (Riemann 1970: 114, 124-125Riemann 1970 / komentarz/comment/r /
Riemann, Erhard 1970. „Beobachtungen zur Wortgeographie des Ermlands”, Jahrbuch des Vereins für Niederdeutsche Sprachforschung 93: 114-153.
).


Illustration: Linguistic variations in the regions to the south-west of Danzig – the situation in 1922 (after: Mitzka 1928: 9Mitzka 1928 / komentarz/comment/r /
Mitzka, Walther 1928. Sprachausgleich in den deutschen Mundarten bei Danzig. Königsberg: Gräfe und Unzer.
).

Low German dialects were also used by inhabitants with an ethnic background different from German, who lived in the areas where Low German was spoken. On the Kashubian coast, where hüttenpommersch dialect was spoken, both Kashubians and Germans spoke both Kashubian and German. Interestingly, the local Low German dialects (both hüttenpommersch and a local variation of Low Prussian) were regarded as Kashubian dialects as well (Mitzka 1928: 22Mitzka 1928 / komentarz/comment/r /
Mitzka, Walther 1928. Sprachausgleich in den deutschen Mundarten bei Danzig. Königsberg: Gräfe und Unzer.
). Danziger missingsch was used by all citizens of Danzig, regardless of their ethnic affiliation (Łopuszańska 2008a: 189Łopuszańska 2008a / komentarz/comment/r /
Łopuszańska, Grażyna 2008a. „Danziger Stadtsprache”, w: Marek Nekula & Verena Bauer & Albrecht Greule (red.) Deutsch in multilingualen Stadtzentren Mittel- und Osteuropas. Wien: Praesens-Verl.
). In Eastern Masuria, Russians – Old Believers who used Low German, dwelt there until the 1950s (Siatkowski 1983: 104Siatkowski 1983 / komentarz/comment/r /
Siatkowski, Janusz 1983. „Interferencje językowe na Warmii i Mazurach”, Studia z Filologii Polskiej i Słowiańskiej XXI: 103-115.
).