Dossier num. 15 - Low German: a Language Regaining Visibility

1. Historical introduction

1.1. Geographic Demarcation

Low German—Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch–, which belongs linguistically to the West Germanic subgroup, is one of six languages traditionally spoken within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), which are the following: on the one hand, there is High German or Hochdeutsch—which is generally regarded as German or Standard German and is spoken throughout the whole of the FRG—and on the other hand, there are four minority languages (those of the Danish, Frisian, Sorbian and Roma national minorities) and Low German, which can be considered a regional language. Regarding these minority languages, three of them are spoken in specific Länder[1] , situated in the north and the east of the country: Danish in Schleswig-Holstein, Frisian in Lower Saxony and in Schleswig-Holstein, and Sorbian in Brandenburg and Saxony, while Romany—the language of the Sinti and Roma Gypsy minority—is found across the whole of Germany.
As for the area in which Low German is spoken, it is situated in the low lands of northern Germany, north of the Düsseldorf-Kassel-Frankfurt an der Oder line (the so-called Benrath-Linie, in red colour in the map below), bearing in mind the blurring of the isoglosses that traditionally separate it from High German, while the northernmost linguistic border coincides approximately with the political border between Denmark and Germany. To the east, the limits of the language correspond with the border between Germany and Poland, even though before 1945 it extended to East Prussia, and on the western border, even if officially delimited as running along the political division between the Netherlands and Germany, the isogloss is not so clear; as it is, the colloquial dialects on either side of the border, although minimally different, are popularly called Plattholländisch (or Low Saxon) in the Netherlands or Plattdeutsch in Germany, that is to say, they are considered dialectal forms of Dutch or German, respectively, depending on the state in which they are spoken. In Germany, the official language of the territories of Low German is High German and in the Netherlands the official language is Standard Dutch.

Division between High and Low German (red line) [2]	The Länder of the FRG [3]
Historical distribution of Low German [4]

1.2. Development

a) Origin and expansion
To understand the origins of Low German we have to look back to the Sixth and Seventh Century, during which time the dialects of the high lands of the south underwent a process of phonetic change that was among the factors that shaped present-day High German, distinguishing it from the other dialects of the West Germanic group, which includes Low German.
As for its history, we can roughly establish three periods: that of Old Low German (or Saxon) from the Eighth to the Twelfth century, from which the oldest written records (from the Ninth Century) have been found; Middle Low German from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century, when the language attained its maximum prestige and territorial reach as the official language both of German government in the north and of the Hansa (the Hanseatic League, a confederation of up to seventy-seven cities with special maritime and commercial privileges that monopolised German foreign trade across the Baltic Sea and spread from there to the North Sea during the Middle Ages), and being the language of commerce in northern Europe, it had a notable influence on the languages of the Baltics and of Scandinavia; and the New Low German period, which corresponds not only to the configuration of its dialectal diversity as we know it, but also to its receding presence with respect to High German.

b) Low German vs. High German
Until the Fifteenth Century, any distinction between Niederdeutsch and Hochdeutsch was simply geographical: The German spoken on the planes and in the mountains, including the dialects of Dutch in Niederdeutsch, which we find documented as ‘nederduits’, ‘nederduutsche’ or ‘nederduyts’ as late as the Nineteenth Century[5]. After the Protestant Reformation, Hochdeutsch began being introduced into the territories in the north and came to be the language of prestige, of education, of the courts and of administration, so that the distinction between Low German and High German went from being one of geography to one of status. As such, little by little Low German came to be seen as a ‘Dialekt’ or ‘Mundart’, that is, a substandard dialect, spoken and not written, the speech of commoners and country folk, essentially an imperfect German. The term ‘Plattdeutsch’ changed its meaning: At one time ‘Platt’ meant ‘the language of the people’, ‘the clear and understandable language’, as opposed to neighbouring languages or written Latin, but as the language began losing political prestige, so did the name, and ‘Platt’ came to mean ‘simple German’, ‘bad German’, or ‘incorrect speech’. Nowadays, the speech considered to be dialects of Danish and Dutch is even called ‘Plattholländisch’ and ‘Plattdänisch’. But despite this loss of prestige, the state of diglossic bilingualism between Low German and High German has been a constant for the better part of northern Germany for the past several centuries.
Nonetheless, in recent times the configuration of the modern German state and the diffusion of High German as the language of prestige and of government have relegated Low German mostly to private and family use. This regression peaked in the post-war period of the 1950’s, when for the first time its speakers stopped transmitting the language en masse to their children. Lastly, the displacement of people brought about by the end of the Second World War led to a significant reduction in the territorial reach of the language, especially in the linguistic areas to the east of present-day Germany, and to the dispersal of a considerable number of its speakers. These changes also contributed to the final expansion of standard German, which was imposed mainly through the educational system, the media, the lifestyle typical of Twentieth century industrialised nations, the mobility of the population and, finally, to a process of language shift, especially in the cities, that continues to the present day.

c) The Current Sociolinguistic Situation
It is difficult to establish with certainty the current number of speakers. The totals vary a great deal depending on the sources and whether one counts only active knowledge, or passive knowledge as well. A figure of some eight million speakers has been proposed[6], while other studies claim the number is closer to five million[7]. The disparity between these figures is due to the different perceptions those who were surveyed have of their own linguistic competence and to the various ways of carrying out and analysing the few surveys that have been conducted. It is worth adding that most speakers of Low German fall into the slice of the population over fifty-five years of age, and that among nearly all of the younger generations the language is little known, even passively (although this differs very much from region to region: there are still areas, however small, in North Frisia and East Frisia where Low German is spoken in the home and on the playground). We find this distribution in the use of the language is greatest in the Länder of the FRG along the coast and less inland. Currently, the language is spoken across eight Länder: the whole of five of them (Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg) and some parts of three (Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt)[8].
Low German’s position as a non-standard, non-written dialect (at least not in official contexts) in many sectors of the society and high culture of northern Germany presents a serious challenge to ongoing efforts to recuperate and conserve it. To this day one can find in publications and hear (even at the universities[9]) the claim that Low German is merely a substandard dialect and not a language in its own right, that it ceased to be a language back in the Fifteenth Century and that, for the fact that it is seen in use only in the home and hardly ever written, it is therefore automatically a dialect of standard German. This curious classification of the German languages, based on status and domains in which it is used, is maintained by no small number of defenders of Low German who are publishing books and giving courses.
Despite this, linguistic evidence culled over the 1990s establishes Low German as an independent language and not as a subsidiary of High German, based on both formal and historical differences. This classification has contributed to an improved self-image of the speakers regarding their language, and also to the blossoming of cultural activity (publications, theatre groups, etc.) This resurgence of a linguistic consciousness among the speakers of Low German has coincided with a series of historical developments, formally established in legislation—as will be discussed later—the results of which cannot yet be predicted as far as they regard the survival or the future of the language.

2. The protection and promotion of Low German

2.1. Language Policy in the FRG

When considering the division of powers as it affects the question of language, one should bear in mind one of the defining elements of the structure of the FRG: the principle of federalism (Article 20, Paragraph 1 of the German Basic Law or Constitution), which gives each Land political and legislative control over the areas of education, science, and culture, among other domains—so long as this does not infringe on the Unification Treaty of 31 August 1990. As it stands, language planning and language laws, whatever their impact on the official German language and on the so-called minority or regional languages, are the principal responsibility of each Land (as supported by Article 70 of the Constitution), which can approach the treatment of the languages spoken within the territory as they see fit. A Land with more than one regional or minority language can even pursue different language policies for each language. On the other hand, the federal constitution—without explicitly establishing protections for ethnic or linguistic groups—does hint at the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of language (Article 3.3, according to the amendment of 27 October 1994). Nonetheless, German is the official language of government and the courts, according to Article 184 of the Judiciary Act (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz) and Article 23 of the Law on Administrative Procedure (Verwaltungsverfahrengesetz), and although there is no provision establishing an official language of education, German is the de facto official language of education from elementary schools through the universities.
As it stands, the general legal framework governing the status and the use of languages in Germany, and Low German in particular, can be summed up with the following: the Basic Law (23 May 1949), the Federal Act to implement the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (16 July 1998), the constitutions of some Länder, various federal acts (administrative procedures, organisation of the courts, civil status, etc.), several accords between Länder (in particular the broadcasting accords), and various acts or lower regulations of the Länder.
As for the policies of the Länder and the various minority groups, there are varying degrees of protection. The Danish minority enjoys the most advantageous position, as a result of several bilateral agreements, the most important of which being the Kiel Declaration of 1955. Likewise, the German Unification Treaty of 1990 allowed for the protection of the language and culture of the Sorbs (a Slavic linguistic minority partially protected by the previous government of the Democratic Republic of Germany), which was then extended to the respective constitutions of the Saxony and Brandenburg Länder (1992). In Schleswig-Holstein, the Land with the most languages and minorities (Apart from speakers of Low German, there are 50,000 speakers of Danish, 10,000 of Frisian–along with 10,000 others with passive knowledge of the language–and some 5,000 speakers of Romany), the new constitution of 1990 included certain protections for the minority Danish nationals and the Frisian ethnic group (Article 5.2). In 1998, this same Land added an article to their constitution that explicitly calls for the promotion of the Low German language (Article 9.2). We see the same with the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania constitution (1993), which for the first time expresses a willingness to protect the Low German language (Article 16.2). During the 1990’s, other constitutions, such as Lower Saxony’s, also refer for the first time to the protection of ethnic or national minorities, which coincided with the FRG‘s joining of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the other significant international convention to recognise certain linguistic rights. As such, this new socio-political framework contributes to a somewhat more favourable stance toward the minority languages (with the exception of Danish), which previously had little presence in German institutions and culture.
As we can see, the federal structure of the German state and the distribution of responsibilities allows for the political structure concerning Low German to be quite diverse, which means that results of any analysis are at the very least complicated, since the differing degrees of protection between the various Länder makes it difficult to view the situation as a whole.

2.2. Previous Milestones in the Protection of Low German

After several centuries of marginalisation of the Low German language, one finds in the middle of the Nineteenth Century the first attempts at slowing or stopping the process of displacement with the establishment of a relatively stable support network (groups and associations, theatre troupes, publishing houses, young writers, and associations of teachers and of church pastors), which contributed to the promotion of a linguistic consciousness. As might be expected, this renaissance never grew beyond the arts, having no impact whatsoever on the standard language nor on government policy. The first push to give Low German a place in the schools was made by scientists and academics in the early 1920’s, with the birth of Low German philology departments at several universities (Rostock, 1919; Kiel, 1921; and Hamburg, 1922). Nonetheless, the chances of Low German being officially introduced into the schools rested on well-intentioned but ineffective declarations from the political establishment.
There was, however –except during the period of national socialism– some legislation adopted, as much during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) as in the period after World War II:
–a decree (Erlaß) by the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art and Education titled “Low German in Prussian Schools” (“Plattdeutsch in den preußischen Schulen”) of 17 December 1919 (amended on 15 May 1922);
–a decree by the Free State of Braunschweig’s Department of Higher Education titled ‘Protection of Low German Homeland Patrimony’ (‘Pflege des Niederdeutschen Heimatsinnes’) of 5 May 1922;
–an announcement (Bekanntmachung) by the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Education titled ‘The Protection of Low German’ (‘Pflege der Plattdeutschen Sprache’) of 5 January 1948;
–various decrees set forth by the Länder of Hamburg (7 May 1951), Schleswig-Holstein (18 September 1951), Lower Saxony (11 October 1951), North Rhine-Westphalia (30 June 1956) and Bremen (22 April 1960), all named variants of ‘Protection of the Low German Language’ (‘Pflege der Plattdeutschen Sprache’).
These measures had very little real impact, however, since they lacked such basic measures as provisions for the training of Low German teachers, corresponding curricula or teaching materials, or even ways to make up for these deficiencies. This lack of institutional support, together with the facts discussed in the section of this document dedicated to the current sociolinguistic situation, contributed to the language’s loss of prestige among younger generations and to an impoverishment in the linguistic skills of its speakers, which has led to its decline from being a generally recognised language of communication to its present dire condition.

2.3. Current Revival

At the beginning of the 1990’s, the concern and the political debate over the Low German language gained steam and this manifested itself later in various political and legislative acts to protect and encourage the use of the language by the various Länder, although to varying degrees. In this regard, the most advanced Länder are Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Lower Saxony, which, as we will see in the corresponding sections, have adopted several relevant legislative measures to this end.
But rather than limit the discussion of the language to the actions within the administrative divisions, we should also consider the cooperation that has been shown between the Länder, which has led to several initiatives, most importantly in the role they played in the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (the Charter) by the federal government.

a) The Land Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the Land that shows the most support for Low German, as it is the most active Land and has the highest number of organisations involved in language matters, the most measures in place, and a record of taking a leading role in coordinated activities among the Länder. As we have discussed, it is the most linguistically complex of all the German Länder, and for quite some time has shown a positive attitude toward its minority groups. In 1988 it created the office of ‘Border Zone Commissioner’, which was later named ‘Minority Commissioner’ (Minderheitenbeauftragte). At first the office only dealt with the minorities in the strictest sense, but beginning in 1992 it began encompassing the role of ‘Commissioner for Low German’ (Beauftragte für Niederdeutsch). Its duties consisted of keeping the president of the Land informed and consulted about the state of the language.
The first move toward institutionalising Low German was the creation of the ‘Low German Consultative Council’ (Beirat Niederdeutsch beim Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landtag), on 13 March 1992. This body is made up of representatives from each party in the parliament, from the government (from the Office of the Commissioner for Low German and from the Ministry of Education and Culture) and from various members of the Low German cultural community, which are all appointed by the President of the Parliament (activist groups and associations, churches, academia, pedagogy, schools, theatre, the media and the literary world). This council meets at least twice a year and is responsible for discussing and contributing to a positive public image of the language and for coordinating activities and other language planning measures (the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, an overall plan for the Land—which we discuss below—academic studies, etc.).
On the legislative end, the government of Schleswig-Holstein has set forth two key instruments: a 1992 decree that established the groundwork for the presence of Low German in the classroom, and a plan approved in 1994 that fleshed out the details of this decree and even broadened its scope. These two measures are conceived as a single unit.
Where they departed was on the one issue that most influences the survivability of the language: education. On January 7, 1992, the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Culture published a decree (Erlaß) titled “Niederdeutsch in der Schule” (‘Low German in School’), which mandated that the schools teach contents of Low German language and literature, including the aspects of everyday life bearing the stamp of Low German. Furthermore, the decree specified that Low German and the culture to which it pertains should have a fundamental role in education. It established that students should not only be taught to speak the language, but should also be encouraged to use it. Rather than assign a course in Low German, the decree established that it should be included within the framework of various subjects. This decree was made possible by way of a document called Framework for an Educational Plan for Low German in the Schools (Lehrplanbausteine für Niederdeutsch in der Schule), which specifies the specific aspects of Low German that must be taught within various subjects (the German language, country studies, religion and music, history, geology, biology, among others) both in primary and in secondary education[10].
The other instrument—the Land Plan for Low German (Landesplan Niederdeutsch), which was approved on January 1, 1994—is broader, as it is the foundation of the regulations in favour of the language. It covers education from pre-schools through the universities and beyond, as well as the church, the theatre, organisations, the media and government.
Lastly, the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is intended as the third pillar in the efforts to protect and promote Low German. As we will discuss below in the section on the Charter, Schleswig-Holstein’s role has been fundamental to Low German’s inclusion in the Charter.
Another crucial element has been the Land’s Constitution of March 20, 1998, which calls for the Land to protect and promote the Low German language (Article 9.2). Within the Schleswig-Holstein Land there are four main bodies that work cooperatively for the promotion of the Low German language and culture: the Schleswig-Holstein National Consortium (SHHB, Schleswig-Holsteinischer Heimatbund), which participated in the writing of the decree “Low German in School” and in the creation of the curricula; two Centres for Low German (‘Zentren’ in the singular; ‘Zentrum für Niederdeutsch’), located in Leck and in Ratzeburg, which offer advice and information, including original pedagogical materials; and the Low German Council for Schleswig-Holstein (Plattdeutscher Rat für Schleswig-Holstein). This council was created in February 2000 to manage and initiate activities as an umbrella organisation, representing the interests of all the various groups involved with the language, being the basis for the creation of the Low German Federal Council in September 2002, representing Low German speakers from eight Länder, as explained below in section “c) Cooperation between Länder”.

b) The other Länder
Following Schleswig-Holstein, the Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has had the biggest impact on the movement to revive Low German and has actively contributed to the processes of including Low German in the ratification of the Charter. In fact, its constitution of 1993 includes an explicit mention of the protection and promotion of the Low German language (Art. 16.2).
The Land’s first measure, however, was adopted some two years before the introduction of this article into the constitution; it is a non-binding document titled ‘Conception for the Promotion of Low German in School, in Colleges/Universities and in Linguistic and Cultural Projects’ (Konzeption zur Förderung des Niederdeutschen in der Schule, an den Hochschulen und in der Sprach- und Kulturarbeit), which calls for the introduction of Low German into the schools and which should promote the language within the framework of various subjects, such as the German language, country studies, music, art and ceramics classes. But this petition did not go into effect until it was included in the Law on Schools of the Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Schulgesetz für das Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), adopted on May 15, 1996, which affirmed that the schools were to take charge in promoting Low German (article 2.3). The next step was an Administrative Regulation from the Ministry of Culture titled “The Work of Primary Schools” (“Die Arbeit in der Grundschule”) and published September 8, 1998, which showed that on top of the curricula, Low German should be given attention in classes such as German, country studies, and music (point 3.4). That said, the implementation of this mandate would not be possible without a specific curriculum, and this did not come about until February 1999, with the publication of the Low German Curriculum for Primary Schools and Centres of Further Education (Rahmenplan Niederdeutsch für die Grundschule und alle weiterführenden allgemeinbildenden Schulen). This curriculum affected all types of schools and all types of courses, and it suggested some class contents and that Low German should be included in leisure activities.
Of the six remaining Länder, we should point out as an example several measures by some of them in the area of education that refer explicitly to Low German, especially on the part of the Land of Lower Saxony. In 1993 this Land introduced an amendment to the School Law of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Schulgesetz), which affirmed that students must be made capable of expressing themselves, including in that the use of Low German or Frisian (article 2.1). Five years later, on July 22, 1997, the Ministry of Culture published a decree titled “The Region in the Classroom” (“Die Region im Unterricht”), which referred to the Land‘s position in favour of including Low German into the Charter, as well as to the article we have just highlighted in the School Law of 1993, and made a comment on the use of Low German in the classroom. As a matter of fact, in practice Lower Saxony does a remarkable task in several fields: The mentioned decree allows for the possibility to carry out various projects, such as bilingual teaching (the Land has had a leading role for the whole of the Low German area in projects of early multilingualism, as it was the first to establish bilingual kindergartens –in 1997, even before the Charter’s ratification– and to introduce bilingual teaching in primary school); also very significant is the work of the Low German Office of East Frisia (Plattdütskbüro der Ostfriesische Landschaft), which is funded by the Land since 1992 and is a milestone for Low German language promotion: it has contributed to the standardisation of the language (with dictionaries and learning books), maintains a regional network for different cultural activities (literature, theatre groups, etc.) and runs several innovative educational projects. Finally, several curricula of the Länder of Saxony-Anhalt (1999), Bremen (2002) and Hamburg (August 2003) also stress the presence of the Low German language in the schools. In fact, Hamburg’s new curricula for secondary school set out that Low German language and literature are obligatory contents within the subject of German, which is a great step.

c) Cooperation between Länder
One of the first joint initiatives between the various Länder was the creation of the Low German Language Institute (INS, Institut für Niederdeutsche Sprache), with headquarters in Bremen, by the Länder of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Its objective consisted of filling the void that existed regarding the study, treatment and safeguarding of the language and cultures in the north of the country, in a way that would cover the whole Low German-speaking territory. The date of the creation of the institute was November 10, 1972, but the financial backing that was needed to secure its future was not settled until January, 1979; according to the deal the Land of Bremen is responsible for 25% of the costs and the rest of the funds are to come from the other three Länder. The activities of the INS are quite varied and are in the area of lexicography (a Low German – High German dictionary has been created), literary studies (a grammar of Low German has been written), librarianship (the creation and maintenance of archived material), academic studies (for example, about the literary traditions and authors or the language’s current situation), information and diffusion, as well as language policy.
Another relevant cooperative initiative is in the area of radio and television, specifically at the Northern Germany Radio and Television (NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk), regulated by the accord that so far has been agreed to by the Länder of Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein (on December 17 and 18, 1991). This accord (Der NDR-Staatsvertag) makes no explicit mention of Low German, but it affirms that the region of Northern Germany, its culture and its language have to be taken into consideration in the programming, whose goal is to conserve cultural identity (Article 5.2). The radio station NDR 1 Welle North of Schleswig-Holstein, for instance, produces a series of programmes, but the programming is limited and is only for a certain part of the population; and Radio Bremen and Hamburg Welle (NDR 1 Hamburg) broadcast world news on week days, once a day.
In the area most purely political, several initiative have been put forward, as for example the meeting between the consultative councils for Low German from the parliaments of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, celebrated on August 26, 1999, and covering the state of the language and the implementation of the Charter; this meeting with the two bodies put on the record their intention of meeting yearly from then on. In the autumn of the same year, a Conference of the Education and Cultural Affairs Ministers of the northern Länder was also held. On the other hand, another resource oriented toward establishing coordinating relations between the Länder and open channels of dialogue with the federal powers was meant to be the creation of councils of Low German, like the Low German Council for Schleswig-Holstein (Plattdeutscher Rat für Schleswig-Holstein), which began activity in February 2000, but they were not created. Finally, the joint task of the Länder culminated with the creation, in September, 2002, of a unitary institution, the Low German Federal Council (Bundesrat für Niederdeutsch). In effect, it is the first body that represents the interests of Low German speakers at the federal level and is made up of delegates from the eight Low German speaking Länder—receiving support from organisations concerned with culture, tradition or language matters, and from the INS, which has assumed responsibility for its management. Its activities consist primarily of discussing the linguistic policy that should be followed, observing the actual implementation of the Charter (including the provision of comments for the writing of Germany’s state reports) and representing Low German at the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages. (EBLUL). However, the structures for the representation of the eight Länder concerned are still weak or non-inexistent.

3. Low German, the Charter’s First “Regional Language”

3.1. The scope of the Charter

When Germany ratified the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages in July 1998, apart from becoming one of the first countries to do so (the Charter had to be ratified by at least five states before it went into effect), it allowed Low German to finally join the group of languages to which a series of established measures must be applied, in this case by each respective Land: In this way, according to this instrument’s official explanatory report and bearing in mind that the cultural issues take precedence over socio-political ones, a regional language is that which is spoken in a territory within a state and of which the majority of the population has a working knowledge[11]. In sum, the Charter aims to protect regional or minority languages as a fundamental part of European cultural patrimony, but that said, it is also clear that it abstains from protecting linguistic groups.
One should not forget that even as the Charter’s text was being drawn up there was some debate over what name should be given to the convention. As de Puig explai[12], with a series of names and adjectives in use to refer to this kind of language—‘minoritised’, ‘native’, ‘vernacular’, ‘non-state’, ‘lesser-used’, etc.—and the various political perceptions and feelings surrounding the question, it was finally agreed to call them ‘minority or regional’, which worked to avoid both confusion and the possibility that linguistic demands become tied to other political aims (as such, the application of the adjective ‘national’ was systematically rejected).
On the other hand, because the concept of a ‘region’ and, by extension, the adjective ‘regional’ are commonly understood terms and are established in both community and European law, they were applied easily to the issue of languages, and specifically to the definitive title of the Charter. The ‘regional languages’ were therefore recognised in law with the approval of the Charter by the Council of Europe.
Since that time, some authors have tried to establish a more concrete definition of ‘regional language’ according to a series of ethno-linguistic and extra-linguistic distinctions. According to Wicherkiewicz [13], as a general rule regional languages share some of the following characteristics:
a. linguistically related to the dominant language of the state and perceived as being a substandard dialect of the state language;
b. at the socio-political level, developed historically alongside the state language;
c. lack a consolidated consciousness of ethnic or political identity despite the fact that the language is a vehicle for identity;
d. have a wide range of variations, which can lead some to classify it as merely various dialects of the state language;
e. lack a written standard accepted by the whole community;
f. once had a rich and prestigious literary tradition;
g. speakers hold different beliefs or practice a different religion from the majority group (not the case of Low German);
h. show internal opposition to any self-perception of minority status, whether national, ethnic or linguistic (Low German speakers roughly identify themselves as a minority, because this term has ethnic connotations, and from this point of view, they are integrated within the German identity).
According to these variables, or some of them, the author affirms that there are several languages in Europe that fall under this definition: Aragonese, Asturian, Kashubian, Occitan, Scots and, of course, Low German.

3.2. The ratification of the Charter by Germany

To put a value on the political and legislative impact the ratification of the Charter has had, one would have to analyse both the developments that took place before the Charter’s ratification—and which contributed to it, as well—and those that have taken place since, and were as a consequence. That said, the timeline and type of legislation should be considered: The ratification was put into effect by a federal law, the Act to Implement the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages of November 5, 1992 (Gesetz zu der Europäischen Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen des Europarats vom 5. November 1992), which was adopted on June 9, 1998. As it is a federal law, it takes precedence over any subordinate law, including laws of the Länder. What is more, it can also override other federal laws based on the principle of the primacy of international law. The key dates associated with the ratification process of the Charter are the following: On November 5, 1992, the FRG signed the Charter and put it into effect on July 9, 1998, consenting to the two declarations that had been issued six months prior—on January 23 and 26, 1998, respectively (in preparing for the ratification of the Charter and the implementation of the obligations as established in Part II). According to these two declarations, the Charter’s geographic reach is structured as follows: in addition to the concrete obligations established by Part II, in the Länder of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein Low German is covered by Part III (Articles 8-14), while in Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxon-Anhalt only Part II (article 7) applies; in any case, these three Länder also benefit from protection foreseen in some provisions in Part III, without arriving at the minimum of thirty-five provisions needed. Finally, on September 16, the FRG deposited the instrument of ratification with the Council of Europe and on January 1, 1999 the Charter went into effect.
The arguments put forward for the inclusion of Low German among the languages to which the protective measures laid out in the Charter should be applied (that is, the “minority languages” of the Frisian, Sorbian, and Sinti and Roma ethnic minorities, and of the Danish national minority), beyond referring to Low German as a separate language, called for treating the population of speakers of Low German as both an open group and at the same time lacking political organisation (in contrast to the other groups that were in a better position to make broader claims), while at the same time invoking another aim of the Charter: close relations with groups of speakers of the language in both Denmark and the Netherlands.
The degree of recognition granted in 1998 to Low German as a regional language in the sense spelled out in the Charter is unprecedented and may mark a significant opportunity for the language. In fact, as recently as 1998 the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL)—the body at the super-state level that represents the regional or minority languages before Community institutions and oversees the implementation of its own policies and actions—did not even recognise Low German for what it is[14]. Likewise, the study 'Euromosaic'[15], carried out over 1992 and 1993 by the European Commission in order to be able to rely on “a research project that defines the current situation of the various minority language groups within the European Union’, did not include Low German among the languages of the study.

a) The process leading to the ratification
The ratification approved by the Federal Government of Germany (Bundestag) in July 1998 should be understood as the culmination of a process begun by the Länder, which, thanks to their pressure and influence, made it possible for Low German to form a part of the languages to be protected under the Charter.
To understand the origins of the process that led to the ratification, one must look back to 1993, the year in which the federal government responded to a petition made by the Länder in the north of the country that demanded that Low German be included in Part II of the Charter[16]. On that occasion the federal government rejected the petition, deciding that Low German did not qualify as a regional language according to the definition in Article I of the Charter. Then, on March 13, 1993, the parliament of the Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania decided unanimously to demand from the government of the Land that it take their case to the Bundesrat. After that, they proceeded to verify the possibility of applying a minimum of thirty-five provisions of Part III and came to the conclusion that all were already satisfied and could be implemented at no cost, so that on March 15, 1994, the government of the Land agreed to propose that Low German be included in Part III of the Charter, provided the Länder in the north of the country vote unanimously in agreement.
In this sense, the central role of Schleswig-Holstein should be highlighted, as it adopted the role of coordinator of the other Länder. In early 1994, the government of the Land also decided to include Low German in Part III of the Charter, as it considered that it had already complied with thirty-nine provisions, which, in addition, could be implemented at no cost; in the same manner, it proposed actively lobbying the other Länder that were vacillating and the federal government to position themselves in favour of its inclusion. As for the other Länder, Lower Saxony had shown early support for its inclusion (it signed 39 provisions), Hamburg was ready to approve thirty-one of the provisions, but expressed its intention of arriving at the thirty-five, North Rhine-Westphalia also showed positive signs, while Bremen still had not taken sufficient steps to approve of the minimum petitions. In the end, on March 30, 1995, the Länder and the federal government arrived at an agreement to include Low German in Part II of the Charter; following that agreement, the Länder proposed the provisions of the Charter that they wanted and the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium des Innern) determined whether or not they could be implemented before ratifying the Charter. In the summer of 1997, the relevant details were ironed out and in January 1998 the two declarations mentioned above were passed.

b) The process following ratification
To determine if Germany’s ratification of the Charter has had a direct consequence on the adoption of new legislation regulating Low German, see the legal texts we have compiled for this Dossier and included in the section “Legal framework”, which shows the dates of adoption of the texts. As one can see, none of the measures adopted has been at the federal level, only at the level of the Länder, because, as has been discussed above, Länder such as Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Lower Saxony already had available enough regulations to be able to implement the Charter without having to take any additional steps. Be that as it may, none of the texts aimed squarely and explicitly at the regulation of the Low German language has the status of a Land-level law, but are instead of a lesser status. Despite these circumstances, the two explicit constructional references to Low German in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania should not be forgotten, even though that of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is from 1993 and that of Schleswig-Holstein was introduced by an amendment in 1998. It is left to be determined if this amendment was introduced as a direct consequence of the imminent ratification of the Charter.
Considering the repercussions of the Charter, one should keep in mind the mechanism meant to guarantee its application, which offers recommendations in case it becomes necessary, for the introduction of improvements in the legislation and the policies that have been carried out by the state in question. The mechanism is organised principally in periods of three years and is structured following reports done by the states, on one hand, and by the Committees of Independent Experts on the other (which evaluate the study done by the state and consult various institutions that represent the interests of the regional or minority language in question). As a last step, the mechanism culminates with a recommendation that the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe makes to the state in question, based on the study by the Committee of Experts.
Therefore, the first fruit of this mechanism was the First Report submitted by the FRG under Article 15, paragraph 1, of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Erster Bericht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland gemäß Artikel 15 Absatz 1 der Europäischen Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen), made available on November 20, 2000. This report was made with contributions from each of the Länder.
Two years later, on July 5, 2002, the Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of the Charter was published. As a general observation, at the time of evaluating the application of the Charter, the Committee of Experts recognised that there are certain shortcomings and encouraged the authorities to adopt specific legislation and administrative measures in several areas of the Charter, most of all in the area of administration and the judiciary. In evaluating the application of Part II, they determined that measures should be taken to avoid alienating the Länder and to guarantee cooperation between them, and that the lack of an umbrella organisation is a great impediment for the promotion of Low German. Concerning the evaluation of the application of Part III, the Committee of Experts highlight above all else the following observations, encouraging the authorities of various Länder to take appropriate measures: both in Hamburg and in Bremen, to increase and make more systematic the possibility for the persons concerned to be received and treated in Low German in social care facilities; in Bremen, in addition, to ensure that Low German forms a part of the curriculum in its own right; and, in Schleswig-Holstein, to encourage and/or facilitate the broadcasting of television programming in Low German. In the section of findings, the Committee of Experts declares that although Low German is recognised by way of the Charter, in practice it is still viewed as a variation of German and not as a language in its own right, which presents a severe obstacle to recognising the status of Low German in the area of education as it is established in the provisions of the Charter chosen by Germany. According to the Committee, the origins of this difficulty come from the fact that the decision on the role of Low German as a subject falls on the educators, and not on the parents of the students, with the effect that in many cases the decision was arbitrary. On the other hand, the case of the Land of Lower Saxony shows the need for re-enforcing or introducing Low German into primary and secondary education. Moreover, the report also highlights shortcomings in the area of culture—as there is not a single established cultural institution it is difficult to base cultural activities squarely on the financing of projects.
Finally, the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the Application of the Charter by Germany, adopted on December 4, 2002, established the following priorities: adopt specific legal provisions, where these are still lacking, in order to implement the undertakings of the Charter; introduce specific planning and monitoring mechanisms and ensure adequate resource allocation in the area of education; improve teacher training for all regional or minority languages; establish a structural policy for making it practically possible to use regional or minority languages in dealings with the administration and, where relevant, in the courts; make the speakers of the regional or minority languages more aware that they have the possibility to avail themselves of their right to use their language before administrative and, where relevant, judicial authorities; and, lastly, take a more approach towards promoting the presence of the regional or minority languages in the media.
With the first period of the control mechanism completed, the second period should start sometime this year, 2003, as Germany is expected to publish its Second Report on the Charter before the end of the year. According to the INS, in a conference held in June of this year on the implementation of the Charter, the federal government presented a rough draft of the report and submitted it for discussion to the various parties involved. It seemed it will consist of some four hundred pages, one hundred fifty of which will be dedicated to Low German.

4. Low German, a Language Regaining Visibility?

To weigh the prospects for the future of Low German, one should bear in mind the title of this paper: “Low German: a Language Regaining Visibility”. It remains to be seen to what extent this is true or whether it is simply wishful thinking encouraged by the burst of activity from the 1990s to the present, for the most part as a result of an optimism—however restrained—that led to the commitment of the Charter.
To be sure, the Charter could offer a good opportunity to put the process of recuperating the Low German language back on track, especially if we remember that this is the first time the German state has conferred it recognition and protection. That said, it should be evaluated whether these measures are satisfactory, that is, whether the commitments achieved by the Charter are ambitious enough and whether they are being applied. In the words of the Schleswig-Holstein Border Zone Commissioner, “it remains to be seen whether the Charter will be implemented quickly”, while, according to the Education Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, “to implement the Charter effectively, certain conditions should be in place first: state institutions should publicise the functions and the possibilities of the Charter, a positive image of the language should be created—overall at the political and institutional level—and an effort should be made to get the greatest consensus possible between the Länder and come to a unitary policy, to be able to optimise the financial resources with efficient projects and to be able to develop certain cooperative strategies, such as establishing shared priorities in the area of education[17]. Regarding the language’s image and coordination among the Länder, the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe has also brought these issues up—as we have pointed out above—and warned about the danger that the Länder could become stranded and that Low German is being treated all too often as a subordinated language. Another concern raised by the Committee of Experts is the shortage of legislation. On the other hand, we should point out one exceptional circumstance: The German government excused the cutbacks in subsidies adducing that it had to take on the catastrophic floods of summer 2002, which “will in the years to come have a strong and lasting impact on the use and appropriation of public funds”[18]. AixTherefore, we see that the implementation has only been partially completed.
Regarding Low German’s current situation in the various areas of life, we continue with a brief overview:

· Education
Although the groundwork is being established for the progressive introduction of Low German into the educational system, mostly in Schleswig-Holstein, it is a process that is quite unequal across each Land, and good intentions in the beginning have met with a harder reality, as the presence of the language is still limited, its use is optional and nearly always the choice of the teacher (except in Hamburg, as we have already seen). This has also been pointed out by the Committee of Experts. Therefore, in reality the introduction of Low German into the schools—whether in pre-schools, primary schools, or secondary schools—is relative, depending on the language skills of the teacher, which are not optimal, even though there is an infrastructure of resources available (teacher education, expanded teaching materials, etc.). On the other hand, it should be emphasised that, outside of schools, courses and activities are being organised (for instance, by the “People’s Schools”—Volkshochschule—, by Low German Centres in Ratzeburg and Leck, by the SHHB of Schleswig-Holstein, or by the Low German Office of East Frisia).
Regarding the universities, contrary to the effort being made at the public and private schools and cultural institutions, they do not seem to be dedicating particular attention to Low German. In general terms, there is a tendency to reduce the chances of studying Low German. Some universities often leave faculty positions unfilled upon the retirement of a professor or the Low German section is not a section of its own and instead is placed within the German Studies department. In Hamburg, for instance, it is nearly non-existent, while at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) the position of Low German language and literature is vacant since October 2002 and will very soon be removed[19]. Even when there is a meeting, congress or symposium on Low German, the themes only focus on the history of the language, ‘regional’ literature, etymology, etc, leaving out, despite a few weak attempts, any work concerning its present sociolinguistic situation; that is, little attention is given to the debate over the suitability or the normalisation of the language[20]. More encouraging are the approaches of some scientific magazines, such as Quickborn, Zeitschrift für plattdeutsche Sprache und Literatur, which insist that the language is in a precarious position and call for the right to use it, and Korrespondezblatt des Vereins für niederdeutsche Sprachforschung, with more historic and literary content, edited in Kiel.

· The Media
The programming quota of spoken Low German in the media is insubstantial and is met with shows concerning country life and folklore. The radio and television corporation of north Germany (NDR) produces programmes aimed at small audiences, with folklore as a stated theme, to an elderly audience. Its programming is for the most part on the radio (NDR 1 Welle North in Schleswig-Holstein, NDR 1 Hamburg-Welle, NDR 1 Radio Niedersachsen in Lower Saxony, NDR 1 Radio MV in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, etc.) and its presence on television is merely testimonial (on N3 in the NDR). Regarding newspapers and magazines, the panorama is no more encouraging: some of them dedicate a page or the corner of a text to be written in Low German; one can even find, from time to time, an article in Platt in Hinz & Kunz, from Hamburg, a low-circulation daily paper, or a weekly comment in the regional newspaper Ostfriesenzeitung. There is only one magazine exclusively written in Low German: Diesel; it is a quarterly magazine and exists since 1992.

· Judicial and Administrative Authorities
As we have commented, the language of the judiciary and the administration is High German, in accordance with the procedural laws of the administration and judicial system, both at the federal level and at the level of the Länder. That said, following the nearly acrobatic interpretation of some authors, it can be argued that the term “German language” does not include only the standard version, but also its dialects, including Low German. In any case, the use of Low German in the administration and the courts depends on the will and the language abilities of the civil servants, which has the effect, as one can guess, of keeping the use of Low German far from general. In the legal system, the fact that most of the judges have no knowledge of Low German and all Low German speakers can speak Standard German, leads its speakers to not exercise their right to use Low German in court. In spite of this, in the event that participants do not know Standard German, an interpreter can be requested and in the case of Low German this does not happen. In the area of administration, applications and requests presented in Low German may receive a response in Low German, but only if the administration has competent personnel to do it. In fact, there are some areas near the coast where Low German is used in the administration. Finally, road signs in Low German are generally non-existent, not even in bilingual versions.

· Other Fields
We can say briefly that, for example, the field of business and the economy[21], Low German is still present in some areas, such as ship construction and agriculture, and in East Frisia 50% of the working life is still in Low German. In the area of culture there are numerous initiatives and activities; in fact, they are the strongest part of language promotion. In the publishing sector, a limitation of funds and of the market often restricts the publication of texts in Low German, and its presence on the Internet has just started, yet it grows steadily.

For these reasons, we see that Low German finds itself in a very difficult situation, and any venture to make conjectures about its future needs to be based on three considerations:
In the first place, in the next twenty or twenty-five years its presence in daily life might recede drastically —or even disappear entirely—, and this is due to the opinion its speakers have of the language. Aside from a small group of activists, the majority have decided not to pass the language on to their children and see no reason for language policies that favour its recuperation by way of the schools, its use in government, etc. What is more, the great majority of its speakers believe that they are the last generation to keep the language alive and are resigned to this.
The second consideration is the age, numbers and role in society of its speakers. Platt is the language of country folk, grandparents, and of dated regional television shows; the image this gives does not help the language at all, leading younger people to say that—in their own words—‘it’s not cool. Even a few attempts at rap and rock music have not got their attention at all.
Thirdly, linguistic policies and the recognition by the federal government and by the Länder is often little more than a declaration of good intentions while the measures are insufficient[22]. The state, by ratifying the Charter, has passed the responsibility to the Länder, which act in disparate ways. The regional languages are not, in fact, a state concern, while the state makes no effort to avoid the fact that the most practical language—the one known by everyone—is imposed.
We can conclude from these findings that there are two tendencies. On the one hand, there is a clear political will to recuperate and protect the language on the part of the political establishment, mainly certain Länder, but this step forward runs counter to prevailing monolinguistic thinking, the image of Low German as a low-prestige language and the attitude of its speakers. Moreover, to be able to aspire for an authentic normalisation of the language in the medium term, a common literary standard must be established, and that does not seem likely at this time. Meanwhile, the language of culture, education, administration and the courts is one and the same, that shared by everyone, and the challenge multilingualism has a long and difficult road to hoe.

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