Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: John Edwards (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)
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Volume: 23 Number: 1 Page: 65–79
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German in Belgium: Linguistic Variation from a Contact Linguistic Point of View
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Peter Nelde and Jeroen Darquennes
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In this paper the situation of the German minorities in Old and New Belgium is presented. Following some geographical notes, the process of federalisation and its repercussions for East Belgium are briefly
described. A discussion of linguistic factors vis-à-vis these minorities located along the Germanic-Romance linguistic border then follows and will lead on to the central part of the article.
For methodological reasons this is divided into one part dealing with external linguistic factors and one on internal linguistic factors. The paper concludes by focusing on issues that broadly characterise
recent research on New and Old Belgium. To position the German minorities in Belgium in a broader context their analysis is preceded by a general and regional European perspective.
© Multilingual Matters 2002
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