Honors Theses

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Modern Languages

First Advisor

Chris Sapp

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This paper examines the use of Luxembourgish in both oral and witten communication. It explores the use or Luxembourgish in newspaper announcements,and the ways in which individuals use language to communicate with others. Data was collected over a period of time from a Luxembourgish newspaper that accepts announcements in all three of the nation's official languages. Language choice in television programming and book publications were then considered in examination of language choice and audience. Book publication lists were obtained from the National Library of Luxembourg catalogue, and were sorted by city of publication and by year. Television programming was available via the RTL (Radio Television Luxembourg) website. The exploration of both written and oral media serves as a distinguishing point for a language with a small written history. Next was considered language in government through examining the language use of the government website, as well as speeches made and interviews given. This provided a rounded view of how the government presented itself to the public. Finally, this paper delves into the study of Luxembourg Luxembourgish both at home and abroad and into the different manners of study available. The paper therefore provides an overview of the use of Luxembourgish as compared to French and German in several different realms of communication, as well as providing brief sociolinguistic commentary on its use or on the use of French or German. It finds that Luxembourgish is thriving as an oral medium, as well as in informal written communication. The use of Luxembourgish is lacking, however, in book publication.

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.