Der Allgemeine deutsche Sprachverein und seine Zweigvereine in Mähren

Abstract

In the first part, the study presents a brief characteristics of the development of the Modern High German language after 1650 from the point of view how other languages influenced its vocabulary and analyses numerous loan words. The second part deals with the origins and the first activities of the General German Language Society (from 1885 on) which became the leader in the field of the institutionalised ideological fight against foreign words in the central German language area. The third part introduces the research results of the affiliate societies which were founded in Moravia, one of the part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. Both the information in the journal of the General German Language Society and archive documents in three Moravian archives (in Brno, Jihlava and Nový Jičín – the only Moravian cities where affiliate societies were founded) show that their existence was rather a peripheral issue in these cities. As opposed to this, affiliated societies were very active in the cities of northern Bohemia. At the end of the study, the author considers the reasons which caused this kind of situation in Moravia.