called ,Historismus' have to be taken into account. Since the already-published literary histories
of German speaking minorities have not succeeded in finding an adequate conception for future
projects, the following facts should be considered: scholarly disposition and writing always
being aware of the triple reception by the international scholars, journalistic and private readers;
the necessary supposition of an author trained in scholarship, who is polyglot and acquainted
with the specific circumstances of a minority culture; the knowledge of the complex conditions
of literature development, with minorities being bound to a specific view on one minority and its
literature; the awareness of writing literary history as being part of literary history and history in
general.
Reinhard Schneider
Language policy in the Middle Ages
The contribution distinguishes between linguistic policy in the sense of intralinguistic
reformative efforts and language policy, which, in favour of one, mostly one’s own language,
tries to dominate other languages and eventually to displace them as well. Both concepts can be
traced to the Middle Ages; they are, however, generally used in a moderate manner, for it seems
that really aggressive modes of behaviour towards different languages are not supported by
documentary evidence. Within the often multi-ethnic territories and empires, the variety of
languages has, as a rule, been respected and attempts have also been made to act in accordance
with it, especially as regards the rulers’ postulate of speaking several languages.
Gunter Scholdt
„Cuius regio, eius lingua." literary reflections of language policy in the
German-French border areas after 1871
Since 1870 Alsace and Lorraine have changed their official language no fewer than four times
(always on the basis of the principle „cuius regio, eius lingua") and they were subjected to
additional pressure in the area of linguistic policy. The population of the Saarland was afraid of
a similar development in their area after 1919. The author analyses numerous literary texts
dealing with this linguistic problem. The analysis shows that truly cosmopolitan authors
remained a minority for a long time. Only recently has an entente crossing the borders begun to
develop, an entente that does not view nationality and language as two elements that must be
made to coincide at all costs.
Peter Wiesinger
On the linguistic situation and language policy in the minority areas of
Austria
Austria borders on countries with official languages other than German. In addition to this, she
is home to six ethnic minorities recognised by law, viz. the Slovenian minority in Southern
Carinthia, the Croatian and Hungarian minorities in the Burgenland, the Czechs and the Slovaks
in Vienna and the Roma and Sinti, who are dispersed, their largest concentration being in
Oberwart in the Burgenland. Origin, territory, size and language of these minorities are
described in the article. Even though the legal basis is the same for all minorities, the offical use
of their respective languages in school, administration, church and broadcasting varies
412
