Introduction

Abstract

The rise of a standard language is inextricably connected to value judgements about linguistic variants. During standardisation processes certain linguistic expressions are marked as ‘correct’ and prestigious and subsequently selected as a standard form whereas other linguistic features are labelled as ‘bad’ and corrupt use of language. As Haugen rightly points out, ‘[w]here a norm is to be established, the problem will be as complex as the sociolinguistic structure of the people involved’ (1997, p. 349). It is, after all, the socio-political context that influences the evaluation of the language usage. An established norm, in turn, has many socio-political consequences. This work will be concerned with the establishment of linguistic norms in the history of specific languages and the socio-political contexts in which these norms arose as well as their influence on actual usage. More precisely, this study seeks to trace the development of the subjunctive mood in English and German, with a special focus on the Austrian variety,¹ during part of their standardisation processes, namely the eighteenth century. As grammarians were attempting to shape and codify a prestige variety during this period, the question arises whether and to what extent these normative grammarians influenced the development of the inflectional subjunctive. After all, the subjunctive mood has been claimed to have been on the decline in both English and German in the eighteenth century (cf. for English: Strang, 1970, p. 209; Turner, 1980, p. 272; Görlach, 2001, p. 122; for German: von Polenz, 1994, pp. 261–263).