Up-to-Date and with a Past: The "Duden" and Its History

Abstract

Let us consider the following: the Planning Board of the Goethe Institute in Munich wants to establish a Nebenstelle mit Sprachabteilung somewhere in the rainforests of Brazil. A language expert is to be dispatched, but can get there only by parachute. Baggage must be restricted to just one book. What book will it be, what is quintessential for the minimalist German teacher? The answer is simple: it must be Duden: Die Rechtschreibung, the little black-red-and-gold book which promises to be maIgebend in allen Zweifelsfallen. The Duden is the vademecum for any teacher of German, it is the trademark of linguistic authority. The very name suggests a definitive set of rules in spelling, usage, grammar, all presented in a clear and accessible form. If it is listed in the Duden, it is legitimate. If it is not, it does not exist.1 Over the years, the Duden has become the bible of the German language. However, its value does not rest only in its usefulness as a reference tool-it is in many ways a work that reflects politics and culture. Last, but not least, it is a monument to immensely successful marketing. The story of the Duden isa fascinating chapter in the cultural history of modem Germany. To trace this history, we have to go back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Germany was not yet united and political and linguistic identity was largely determined by region.2 This regionalism was strongly reflected in the spelling conventions prevalent throughout the German speaking countries. To be sure, some spelling guides did exist and were used by printers and in some schools. Most were based on Johann Christoph Adelung's Vollstdndige Anweisung zur Deutschen Orthographie, nebst einem kleinen Wirterbuch fir die Aussprache, Orthographie, Biegung und Ableitung, published in Frankfurt and Leipzig in 1788 (Grebe 9). This was a practical volume, based on the principle write the way you speak. However, that was easier said than done, for the multitude of German dialects made any uniformity impossible. Adelung's rules, and those of his disciples, prevailed until, in the wake of the German unification movement of the post-Napoleonic period, romantic and nationalistic notions entered the debate. Voices were heard, primarily from the Germanists at the universities, promoting a return to the conventions of the Middle Ages, to the pure German of the past. One dreamed of restoring an orthography closely linked to Middle High German, the way one restored old castles at the time or wrote novels about