Möllers Karl, Schulten Mama und Schmidtenbuur

In rural speech communities, we find specific systems for personal reference used to talk about absent referents. They only apply within one village’s ingroup and consist of the surname or an unofficial family name preceding the first name, a kinship term or other personal reference terms. The surname can show a former genitive suffix and mostly appear without a determiner in Low German ( Mollers Karl ). Diachronically, complex systems with several levels marking insider or outsider status can be noted distinguishing between well and lesser known referents within the speech community. For well-known referents, kinship terms or first names are used, while for lesser known persons, occupational terms are preferred. House names as the least official form of reference are only given to families living in the speech community for several generations. By using these systems for personal reference, speakers not only position other persons within the speech community’s ingroup, but also establish their own identity as their members. Synchronically, these systems are simplified or even abolished simultaneously with the decrease of Low German varieties. This especially applies to unofficial family names, which are closely tied to dialect. Even today, being established as a local family over several generations forms the most important condition of using unofficial reference terms.