ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the versatility and embeddedness of the pluricentric approach are tested for a number of Germanic varieties. English is given prominence, as the concept is traced back to the 1950s, though it was never been openly discussed in that field. It is, Stefan Dollinger argues, part of the DNA of English. In the Northern Germanic languages, the relationships of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, with particular focus given to the former as the most interesting case of an ausbau language. In Low Germanic, the interesting, asymmetrical relationship of Netherlandic Dutch and Belgian Dutch are thematized, with focus given to Tussentaal, which has despite its disprivileged beginning today a reasonable claim to becoming the future Belgian Dutch Standard. The case of Luxembourgish, another former dialect of German that has gained independence and has undergone codification, is made to show that if the case did not apply to German, we have a methodological problem.
