DDR German

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (May 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,935 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Sprachgebrauch in der DDR]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Sprachgebrauch in der DDR}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

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]

Vocabulary

The most prominent changes in the German language in the DDR were at the level of vocabulary.^[6] Most of the differences in DDR vocabulary were a result of the East German government attempting to construct a new socialist lexicon that would help to create and develop a new socialist identity in the DDR.^[7] An example of a word that was changed to promote a new socialist identity was the change from the word for flag from Fahne to Winkelement, meaning "waving element." The idea behind this change was to encourage people to wave flags that authorities would hand out to them before parades and other events to signify East German pride.^[7] Another word that was created to promote a new socialist identity was to change the word for cow ('Kuh') to Großvieheinheit meaning "large livestock unit." Communist agricultural planners made this change to show that a socialist cow was different, and something special compared to a capitalist cow.^[7]

The government of the DDR and its organizations controlled many aspects of everyday life and created new words to express themselves. Words such as der Stattsrat (the governing body of the DDR), der Staatsratsvorsitzende (the chief executive of the governing body), and die Volkskammer (the one legislative body in the DDR) were created for the new governing body.^[6]

Economic, political, and social changes in the DDR as well as the total reorganization of government, industrial, and employment systems resulted in new words and compounds being developed.^[6] Words such as Betriebspaß ("the general characteristics of a factory in regard to its technical and economic state") and kollektivieren (the verb used for the action of nationalizing land) were established and given meanings to activities specific to the East German government.^[6]

As the new nation was developing, so were new words to fill in the gaps of DDR society. An example of this would be Intershop which was the word for a store that exchanged foreign currencies for western goods.^[7] Hausbuch was the book each residential block kept to enter residents' and visitors' details and to document visitors from West Germany, which was checked regularly by East German police, and Westpaket was the word for care packages that were sent to East Germany from the West.^[7]

In addition to creating new words, words that previously had existed were given new meanings (or modified slightly) to reflect the values of the DDR. Das Aktiv was "a group of workers which strives collectively to fulfill socio-political economic and cultural tasks and strives for above average achievements."^[6] Der Arbeiterstudent was created to describe a student who was previously a manual worker before deciding to study.^[6]