Amager

For a Danish translation of this article, click here. Updated Oct. 14.      

As Lingoblog celebrates UN German Language Day, Joost Robbe examines the unique history of Amager Dutch (a Dutch-Low German dialect), used on the Danish island of Amager, near Copenhagen, between the early sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. He explains how, having survived for centuries, the fate of this minority language rested on the choices — and linguistic inadequacies — of a single person.

How often can the death of a language be traced back to a single person? Almost never. But the case of Amager Dutch – once spoken in Store Magleby outside Copenhagen – is different. For centuries, the community combined Dutch speech with a strong Low … ↪