Current Research Projects

Modern North Frisian – A study on the discrepancy between language norms and language use

A frequently discussed topic in minority language linguistics is the impact of language contact with a majority language. This contact usually results in a change in the language system, especially in the minority language. Newer language contact phenomena, however, rarely find their way into codified language descriptions, as deviations from the norm are usually viewed negatively. For this reason, linguistic features and constructions, which are not found in the codex, give the impression that they are not common in language use, although these are sometimes already well established there.

The goal of Meike Ohlsen's dissertation is to show the discrepancy between what is considered to be the norm in codified North Frisian and that which can actually be documented in language use. This is done through the analysis of language data collected from ca. 50 interviews with North Frisian speakers conducted in 2019-2024. Additionally, it also discusses how language contact phenomena are perceived by various interest groups and which effects this can have on language use. Such a corpus also provides current language data for linguistic descriptions of North Frisian which were not previously available. 

Visibilizing Normative Regional Historical Multilingualism (ViNoRHM): Ideology, Policy, and Practice

S. Litty stands outdoors and holds two old texts

The ViNoRHM-Project project combines micro-level case studies of language ideology, policy, and practice, using primary texts from official records and hitherto understudied archival data through which previously invisible or invisibilized languages and individuals (especially women and the un-/lesser educated) are brought to the forefront in an innovative account of language history of the German-Danish border region in the 19th century.

Multilingualism in the 19th century – the Ranzelberg Guestbook

old book open on a table with writing hands in the background

The Guestbook from the legendary "Petersburg" country inn, once found on the Ochsenweg between Husum and Tønder, in today's Langenberg Woods, has been housed in the archive of the Nordfriisk Instituuts (NFI) in Bredstedt since 2018. In a collaborative project with the EUF, generously funded by the Stiftung für die Friesische Volksgruppe im Lande Schleswig-Holstein (Friesenstiftung/Friisk Stifting), the guestbook is being transcribed, with the hope of producing an academic publication, giving the public access to the stories and secrets the guestbook holds, but which also situates the guestbook in its historical context. Project leader is Dr. Samantha M. Litty.

For Christmas 1834, several seminarians attending the Tønder teaching seminary gifted the guestbook to the innkeeper, Peter Matthiesen (thus the name "Petersburg"). Generations of seminarians, who referred to themselves as "Burschen" - a term restricted to members of German fraternities, which the seminarians were not - immortalized themselves in the pages of the guestbook over the following five decades. Through this extraordinary source we are able to gain insights into the "Burschen"-existence of the time. Whether on their way to exams or home for the holidays, whether in a good mood or not, the seminarians regularly embellished their entries with songs, rhyming couplets, famous quotes, or toasts. Other travelers through the region, such as sailors traveling from the North Frisian islands to the Baltic, or cattle herders and tradesmen, added to the guestbook as well. These entries were sometimes "edited", commented on, ridiculed, or even entirely removed from the guestbook by the seminarians, who considered the guestbook to be their property. By 1888, over 400 pages of the guestbook were filled. Alongside entries in German, there are a good number of entries in Danish, and a handful in Frisian. Additionally, entries were often decorated with bits in Latin, French, and Low German. 

Student assistants: Anna Sophie Blaue (2021-2022), Ilka Thomsen (2021-2023), Jan Momme Penning (2021-2024), Andre Hermann (2023- )

Constructions of Frisian Identity - with and without language

[Translate to 2-Englisch:] Zeichnung: Ein Mann schwingt eine ostfriesische Flagge am Strand vor tiefstehender Sonne.

In the eastern part of the historically Frisian settlement area, the Frisian language has long been nearly extinct, with the exception of the Saterland. Additionally, territorial development over the centuries not only separated the three Frisian lands from each other - East-Frisia itself was and remains politically fragmented. Even prior to the national and romantic intellectual currents of the 19th century, linguistic and political divisions had led to diverging identity constructs among the region's inhabitants. Language and (national?) identity, however, traditionally form a closely interwoven pair. Against this background alone, it is astonishing that three different configurations of language and identity have developed in the old East-Frisian settlement area: In the Groningen Ommelanden - today the Dutch province of Groningen - after the Frisian language disappeared, so too, did the Frisian identity. In the remote Saterland, the Frisian language has survived to this day, but the people lost their Frisian identity. This has only recently been revived. In the remaining areas, the Frisian language disappeared, but an (east)Frisian identity - in various forms - remained anchored among the people. Temmo Bosse is researching how these identities are expressed, which current and historical reference points they have, how the East-Frisians fit into the officially recognized Frisian ethnic minority, and finally, which sociolinguistic effects these identity constructions have on language use in the region.