1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
ABOUT THE LINGUISTIC PURIFICATION AND THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE POLICY IN THE NAZI RTA
| Project/Area Number |
07610503
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
独語・独文学
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| Research Institution | GAKUSHUIN-UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
HAYAKAWA Tozo GAKUSHUIN-UNIVERSITY,FACULTY OF LETTERS,PROFESSOR, 文学部, 教授 (00080416)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1997
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| Keywords | LANGUAGE POLYCY / FOREIGN WORDS / THIRD REICH / THE GDR (DDR) |
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| Research Abstract |
The ideas of those who concerned themselves with the purity of language have always had a certain inclination to chauvinism. Their history dates back to the language societies ("sprachgesellschaften") of the 17th century. When the Nazis came to power these purists surely thought of them as ardent supporters of the so-called good cause. But it turned out that the Nazis in order to flatter the intellectuals and to fool the working class used themselves foreign words quite freely. When the purists dared to critisize the rulers for this practise they became in turn the objects of criticism by them. So the hegemony in the case of langauge remained firmly with the Nazis.
To strengthen their claim to power the new leaders often changed the old meanings of the words very discretely. The best examples for this practise are the words "intellectual" used to be interpreted in a negative sense and "fanatical" now to be interpreted in a positve way. By using these words constantly with these new meanings the Nazis were able to set on the people against intellectuals. By the way this negative meaning firstly developed by Frence conservatives during the Dreyfus-Affair at the turn of the century became common sense now.
In order to strengthen their imperialistic points of view the new rulers often used the expressions "Blut" ("Blood" in a racist sense) and "Raum" ("Space" in an imperialistic sense). The 'blood had to be kept pure' and 'Aryans' needed vast amounts of space for living. The inferiority of other than 'Aryan' races became so firmly established and the "Endlosung" ("Final Solution") got under way.
A similar tedency in misusing language was to be found among the language policy of the "German Democratic Republic" (die DDR) although often in a reversed sense. while for example "Frieden" ("peace") during the Nazi Era had aquired a negative meaning. "Frieden" in the German Democratic Republic from the beginning on was connected with a better "antifacist" feature.
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