From Status to Corpus: Codification and Implementation of Spelling Norms in Luxembourgish

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with reconstructing the processes of codification and implementation of orthography by exploring how certain norms find their way into actual language use. The test case chosen here is the codification and subsequent implementation of orthography in Luxembourgish. As a primarily spoken language, originating from a Central Franconian dialect and achieving high positive prestige as the national language since the end of the nineteenth century, Luxembourgish can today be regarded as an Aus bau language, which has conquered several new domains. Although historically closely related to German, Luxembourgish is today evaluated by the speech community as an autonomous language. Learned as the first language of the majority of Luxembourgers, the language is embedded in a complex multilingual setting where it shares domains and functions with German and French (see Horner and Weber, 2008; Fehlen, 2009). Because of a high proportion of foreign residents due to immigration (44 per cent), the language situation is characterized by extensive multilingualism, French predominating (see Fehlen, 2011). While both German and French are intensively taught in school, Luxembourgish, although the first language of approximately 60 per cent of the population, forms only a rudimentary part of the school curriculum.

I would like to thank Julia de Bres and the editors Wini Davies and Evelyn Ziegler for valuable input to the present chapter.