Hessian

The following is a case study of the linguistic situation in a large urban centre of the Hesse–Palatinate region of West Germany. Mannheim (pop. 301,770) is one of the most important cities in the Rhine–Neckar area and, with the exception of Frankfurt/Main (pop. 615,000), is also the largest in the Rhine Franconian dialect area. Mannheimer are proud of their city and of the local linguistic variety, an integral component in the constitution of local identity and loyalty. A survey by the magazine Bunte in 1979 asked the inhabitants of the 67 largest cities in West Germany how satisfied they were with the language/dialect spoken in their cities. The inhabitants of only four other cities were more satisfied with their linguistic variety than the Mannheimer (Menge 1980). Loyalty to the local value system implies loyalty to the local variety, and this results in high prestige for the latter.