Published: 22026-10-29 — Updated on 2026-10-30

Sprachbiographien im deutsch-polnischen Grenzraum: Piła (Schneidemühl) und Umgebung

Anna ZIELIŃSKA , Irena RAWDZIC-JANKOWSKA
Germanistische Werkstatt
Section: Linguistics
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/pg.6393

Abstract

Language biographies in the German-Polish border region: Piła (Schneidemühl) and its surroundings

In our article we present the results of our research in a historical German-Polish border region. The focus is on bilingual families who have resided in the town of Piła (until 1945 Schneidemühl) and its surroundings for generations and who still live there today. The area is now part of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship. Based on the interviews with historical witnesses, we present the difficult situation of German speakers in the years after the Second World War. We focus on the processes of language shift from German to Polish in the families of our informants. The article gives a picture of the sociolinguistic situation in a historically bilingual region of western Poland.

Keywords:

linguistic biographies, German-Polish border region, language shift, German minority

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Citation rules

ZIELIŃSKA, A., & RAWDZIC-JANKOWSKA, I. (2026). Sprachbiographien im deutsch-polnischen Grenzraum: Piła (Schneidemühl) und Umgebung. Germanistische Werkstatt, (15), 143–162. https://doi.org/10.25167/pg.6393

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