Processes of horizontal and vertical convergence in present day Germany

Peter Auer

doi:10.7557/17.4731

Abstract

Processes of horizontal and vertical convergence in present day Germany

Highlights

This paper attempts to give a brief account of the major processes of convergence in the German language area, processes which may be called horizontal or vertical
Peter Auer but usually works on various levels of symbolic expression, and non-grammatical parameters such as rhythm and tempo, mimics or gesture, seem to lend themselves more to accommodation than phonology, morphology or syntax, in the framework of H
Further examples of this type are not rare: Convergence towards Swabian (North Alemannic) has brought the unrounded front vowels /y/ and /o/ to the area north of Lake Constance and thereby displaced the older (High Alemannic) form identical to the standard; /f/-coronalisation is expanding within the entire middle German region (Herrgen 1986); in the central Rhine area, older base dialectal diphthongal forms are replaced by regional dialectal monophthongal forms, like /e / for MHG /ei/, ID For details of these dimensions, cf

Summary

Introduction

This paper attempts to give a brief account of the major processes of convergence in the German language area, processes which may be called horizontal (if they affect the inter-dialectal dimension) or vertical (if they affect the standard-dialect dimension). The first section presents some preliminary thoughts on convergence and divergence in social dialectology, while section two outlines four developments in the German language area (focussing on the situation in Germany and Austria)

Convergence and divergence in social dialectology: some preliminary remarks

Four tendencies in present-day German

Conclusion