Literary Text as a Sociolinguistic and Contact Linguistic Source –the Example of Arthur Achleitner’s Prose Collection „Aus Kroatien“

Abstract

This paper examines the use of literary texts as sources within the fields of historical sociolinguistics and contact linguistics. Although literary texts are often considered unreliable testimonies of linguistic practice due to their fictional nature, it cannot be ignored that some contain numerous potentially indicative sociolinguistic elements. Using the example of the short story collection “Aus Kroatien” (1920) by the forgotten German writer Arthur Achleitner, the paper showcases certain moments and challenges in the linguistic treatment of such material. The assumption is made that, regardless of various degrees of fictionality and linguistic mimesis, the language of literary texts can never fully reflect actual linguistic practice. However, in the study on the social history of language, every surviving document should be considered a potential source of new insights or confirmations of already established assumptions. The paper critically examines the possibilities and limitations of studying literary works in this context and proposes elements of a possible methodological framework for analysing language as a reflection of sociolinguistic reality.