DDR German

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The German language developed differently in East Germany (DDR), during its existence as a separate state from 1949 to 1990, from the German of West Germany because of significant differences in the country's political and socio-cultural environment. Additionally, from the late 1960s onwards the political leaders of the DDR were intent on affirming the independence of their state by "isolationist linguistic politics"^[1] with the objective of demarcating East Germany from West Germany by actively reducing the unity of the German language.^[2]

This political effort did not amount to the creation of a new language in the DDR but brought about a particular usage of the language and of linguistic behaviours specific to it,^[3] felt not in syntax or grammar, but in vocabulary,^[4] and manifesting itself in both the official and non-official spheres.^[5]

The result was that the German of the former East Germany also includes two separate vocabularies, both different from the German of the Bundesrepublik: the official Socialist one (Newspeak ^[6] or officialese) and the critically humorous one of everyday life.^[7][8][9]