Missingsch

Missingsch (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪsɪŋʃ]) is a type of Low-German-coloured dialect or sociolect of German. It is characterised by Low-German-type structures and the presence of numerous calques and loanwords from Low German in High German.

A more technical definition of Missingsch is that it is a type of contact variety, specifically a type of German variety with a Low German (or Low Saxon) substratum. That is the result of linguistic, cultural, educational and political Germanisation of the region that is now Northern Germany. The process of Germanisation began in earnest in the late 17th century, after the demise of the Hanseatic League and thus the erosion of its Middle-Saxon-speaking power. Pressures to adopt German but being held back by insufficient access to formal (by now solely-German) education in the lower social classes led to various stages of transition from Low German to High German. The generally low-prestige language varieties continued to be spoken and rarely written until the late 20th century, but some people still continue and promote them now, very often for their supposed entertainment value, typically in comical veins.

Perhaps the best-known remaining domain of Missingsch is that of "Klein Erna jokes" — usually told entirely in Missingsch — in which laconic humour glorifies low-class wit and comments on working class conditions; e.g.

From a linguistic point of view, Missingsch varieties did not become extinct as such. They merely developed into northern varieties more closely related to Standard German, varieties that use numerous Missingsch elements, especially in their casual registers. As such, Missingsch has been influencing the development of Standard German, mostly indirectly by way of northern German dialect contributions. Obvious examples are Low Saxon loanwords such as tschüß 'bye' (compare Low Saxon: adschüüß, tschüüß). However, most influences are not as clearly noticeable as they involve lexical and idiomatic choices. A case of lexical choice is Sonnabend (compare Low Saxon Sünnavend and Standard German Sonnabend, Samstag) 'Saturday'.

There are numerous parallel cases to that of Missingsch. These are found in many situations in which languages came to be supplanted by other languages. Within a Northern European context there is the case of Stadsfries in the northern parts of the Netherlands and the case of sociolects of Scottish English that have particularly strong characteristics of Scots.

While there have been many varieties of Missingsch throughout Northern Germany, those of larger cities are best known, such as those of Hamburg, Bielefeld, Bremen, Flensburg and Danzig.

The name Missingsch refers to the city of Meissen (Meißen), which lies outside the traditional Saxon-speaking region (although the state in which it is situated at one time acquired the misleading name Saxony, originally the name of what is now Northern Germany). Meissen's Central German dialect was considered exemplary and was highly influential between the fifteenth century and the establishment of Modern Standard German.

Missingsch is not a dialect of Low German. Furthermore, it is also not simply High German with a Low German accent, as it is often described. Its Low German/Low Saxon influences are not restricted to its phonology but involve also morphological and syntactic structures (sentence construction), as wll as its lexicon (vocabulary). It is a type of German variety with the minimally qualifying characteristic of a clearly noticeable Low German/Low Saxon substratum.