Elsässerditsch. On the brink of extinction!?

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, LMU Munich, language: English, abstract: There is a contemporary caricature, that describes the problem of an own language between Germany and France fairly good. On a roof, there are the French Cockerel, the Alsatian Stork in the middle and the German Eagle. Both the French and the German bird are attempting to make the stork speak their language. After the stork struggles to speak these languages, the neighbours become impatient and louder. The Alsatian bird finally cries: ¿Mir langst jetz mit ejch zwei, nundediawle! Ich redd wie mir de Schnawel gewachse isch!¿

Situated at the French border to Germany, the Alsace is a region where also the linguistic border in between German and French can be found. As it used to belong to both Germany and France at certain points in its history, an interesting situation of language use and contact has evolved over the last centuries. In France its 1.8 million inhabitants are often referred to as Germans, even though it is part of France and in spite of the fact, that the official language is French since Alsace-Lorraine has been handed back to France after World War 2. Nevertheless an Upper German dialect called Alsatian (Elsässerditsch) is still spoken there.