Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache
Encyclopedia
The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (ɡəˈzɛlʃaft fyːɐ̯ ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈʃpʁaːxə, Association for the German Language), or GfdS, with its headquarters in Wiesbaden
is Germany
's most important government-sponsored language society. Re-founded shortly after the Second World War in 1947, the GfdS is politically independent and the declared successor of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein (ADSV), the General Association for the German Language, originally founded 1885 in Brunswick
, Germany
. Its aim is to research and cultivate the German language
; to critically evaluate the current German language change
; and to give recommendations concerning the current usage of German.
In a bi-annual public ceremony, the GfdS awards the Media Award for Language Culture (Medienpreis für Sprachkultur). Furthermore, and in co-operation with the Alexander Rhomberg Foundation, the GfdS awards the annual Alexander Rhomberg Award for young journalists.
Since 1971, the GfdS produces the annual language retrospective, well-known for its 'Word of the Year' (Wort des Jahres)
and the Federal parliament Bundestag
. They also advise ministries and authorities on both federal and state level as regards the linguistic correctness of draft legislation, by-laws, orders and other texts.
The most important task of the GfdS is to revise the language of draft legislation, by-laws and orders whose legal terminology must be formulated clearly and concisely.
Der Sprachdienst was founded in 1957 as a result of the practical work of the GfdS, it is the association's newsletter, published bi-monthly, with a circulation of 3,200 (2011) and aims to address a broad, general audience with an interest in linguistic issues. The publication mainly focuses on historical linguistics
, grammar
, stylistics
, phraseology
, terminology
, onomastics
and spelling
, but also contains articles dealing with more general questions concerning the use of current German.
The GfdS's highly reputated quarterly academic journal
Muttersprache, currently (2011) in its 121st year of publication with a circulation of 1,000, focuses entirely on specialist linguistic matters.
The association currently (30 October 2010) consists of a total of 100 branches in 33 countries on four continents, 48 in Germany and 52 abroad.
If a federal state has more than one branch, then at least one branch is located in the capital of the respective federal state.
). In 2003, both organisations, together with the Goethe Institute and the Institute of the German Language, founded the German Language Council (Deutscher Sprachrat) which was later also joined by the German Academic Exchange Service
(DAAD).
The GfdS is connected to various Universities and other education institutions with an interest in Linguistics
, e.g. the German Academy for Language and Poetry
and the Institute of the German Language (IDS).
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
is Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's most important government-sponsored language society. Re-founded shortly after the Second World War in 1947, the GfdS is politically independent and the declared successor of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein (ADSV), the General Association for the German Language, originally founded 1885 in Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Its aim is to research and cultivate the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
; to critically evaluate the current German language change
Language change
Language change is the phenomenon whereby phonetic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and other features of language vary over time. The effect on language over time is known as diachronic change. Two linguistic disciplines in particular concern themselves with studying language change:...
; and to give recommendations concerning the current usage of German.
Activities
With its language advice service, the GfdS supports individuals, companies, authorities and institutions concerning questions of the usage of contemporary German with regard to spelling, grammar and style.In a bi-annual public ceremony, the GfdS awards the Media Award for Language Culture (Medienpreis für Sprachkultur). Furthermore, and in co-operation with the Alexander Rhomberg Foundation, the GfdS awards the annual Alexander Rhomberg Award for young journalists.
Since 1971, the GfdS produces the annual language retrospective, well-known for its 'Word of the Year' (Wort des Jahres)
Work for the German Parliament
The GfdS editorial panel of the parliament (Redaktionsstab der Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache e. V. beim Deutschen Bundestag) gives linguistic advice to both the Federal Council BundesratBundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level...
and the Federal parliament Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
. They also advise ministries and authorities on both federal and state level as regards the linguistic correctness of draft legislation, by-laws, orders and other texts.
The most important task of the GfdS is to revise the language of draft legislation, by-laws and orders whose legal terminology must be formulated clearly and concisely.
Publications
The GfdS puiblishes two linguistic journals, Der Sprachdienst and Muttersprache.Der Sprachdienst was founded in 1957 as a result of the practical work of the GfdS, it is the association's newsletter, published bi-monthly, with a circulation of 3,200 (2011) and aims to address a broad, general audience with an interest in linguistic issues. The publication mainly focuses on historical linguistics
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, stylistics
Stylistics (linguistics)
Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of its own...
, phraseology
Phraseology
In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units , in which the component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when...
, terminology
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
, onomastics
Onomastics
Onomastics or onomatology is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. The words are from the Greek: "ὀνομαστικός" , "of or belonging to naming" and "ὀνοματολογία" , from "ὄνομα" "name". Toponymy or toponomastics, the study of place names, is one of the principal branches of...
and spelling
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
, but also contains articles dealing with more general questions concerning the use of current German.
The GfdS's highly reputated quarterly academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
Muttersprache, currently (2011) in its 121st year of publication with a circulation of 1,000, focuses entirely on specialist linguistic matters.
Organisation
The chairman of the GfdS is Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Armin Burkhardt, a professional linguist and Professor of Germanic Linguistics at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg; the GfdS Secretary is Dr Andrea-Eva Ewels, also a professional linguist.The association currently (30 October 2010) consists of a total of 100 branches in 33 countries on four continents, 48 in Germany and 52 abroad.
German branches
48 GfdS branches are located in Germany (Sept. 2009), with at least one branch in each of the 16 German federal states:- Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart)
- Bavaria (Munich, Nuremberg, Würzburg)
- Berlin (Berlin)
- Brandenburg (Frankfurt/Oder, Potsdam)
- Bremen (Bremen)
- Hamburg (Hamburg)
- Hesse (Bergstraße, Darmstadt, Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Marburg an der Lahn, Wiesbaden)
- Lower Saxony (Celle, Goslar, Göttingen, Hannover)
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Greifswald, Rostock, Schwerin)
- North Rhine-Westphalia (Aachen, Bonn, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Münsterland, Siegen, West Ruhr Area, Wuppertal)
- Rhineland-Palatinate (Koblenz, Mainz, Palatinate, Trier)
- Saxony (Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig, Zittau, Zwickau)
- Saxony-Anhalt (Halle/Saale, Magdeburg)
- Saarland (Saarbrücken)
- Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel)
- Thuringia (Erfurt, Weimar)
If a federal state has more than one branch, then at least one branch is located in the capital of the respective federal state.
Branches outside Germany
The GfdS has 52 branches outside Germany, in 33 countries on four continents:- Africa (6 branches)
- Egypt (Cairo)
- Cameroon (Yaoundé)
- Namibia (Windhoek)
- South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town)
- Togo (Lomé)
- America (7 branches)
- Brazil (Porto Alegre, São Paulo)
- USA (Boston, Chicago, Madison, New York, Philadelphia)
- Asia (9 branches)
- Armenia (Yerevan)
- China (Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai)
- India (Pune)
- Israel (Tel Aviv)
- Japan (Tokyo)
- Russia (Omsk, Ural)
- Europe (30 Branches)
- Austria (Innsbruck, Vienna)
- Belgium (Brussels)
- Bulgaria (Sofia)
- Croatia (Zagreb)
- Czech Republic (Prague)
- Denmark (Copenhagen)
- Estonia (Tallinn)
- Finland (Turku)
- France (Paris)
- Georgia (Tbilisi)
- Greece (Athens)
- Hungary (Budapest)
- Italy (Bolzano, Milan, Rome)
- Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
- Netherlands (Nijmegen)
- Poland (Warsaw)
- Romania (Bucharest)
- Russia (Kaliningrad, Moscow, Polar Region, Saratow, St Petersburg, Voronezh)
- Slovakia (Bratislava)
- Spain (Madrid)
- Ukraine (Kiev)
- United Kingdom (London)
Co-operation
The chairman represents the GfdS on the German Spelling Council (Rat für deutsche RechtschreibungRat für deutsche Rechtschreibung
The Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung , or RdR, is the main international body regulating the German language.With its seat being in Mannheim, Germany, the RdR was formed in 2004 as a successor to the Zwischenstaatliche Kommission für deutsche Rechtschreibung in order to comprise proponents as well...
). In 2003, both organisations, together with the Goethe Institute and the Institute of the German Language, founded the German Language Council (Deutscher Sprachrat) which was later also joined by the German Academic Exchange Service
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....
(DAAD).
The GfdS is connected to various Universities and other education institutions with an interest in Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, e.g. the German Academy for Language and Poetry
Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung was founded on August 28, 1949—the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe—in Paulskirche in Frankfurt...
and the Institute of the German Language (IDS).