Modus im Niederdeutschen

Abstract

This article investigates the use of tense and mood in reported speech in Low German in comparison with High German, English and Norwegian. The High German Standard Language features a fully developed indicative-subjunctive-contrast, with one of the functions of the subjunctive being the marking of reported speech. Many other Germanic languages, represented here by English and Norwegian, do not have a comparable subjunctive category (any more). Reported speech occurs in the indicative, often involving backshift. Given that Northern Low German dialects, too, have lost distinct subjunctive forms, the question arises as to whether the marking of indirect speech functions in the same way as it does in the other subjunctive-less languages. The present article aims to explore this question empirically, based on a corpus of Northern Low German radio news. It turns that the distribution of present and preterite forms in the Low German radio news is wider than it is in English or Norwegian: The present, much like in High German, occurs in cases where English or Norwegian would require backshift, and the preterite has a reportative-subjunctive-like use not found in English or Norwegian.