O niemieckich kodach wyspowych w Imperium Rosyjskim
German Island Codes in Imperial Russia

Summary/Abstract: This article serves as an introduction to the little-known topic of the linguistic codes which were used by the population of German settlements in Imperial Russia. The processes of colonization and migration that lasted from the 1750s until the October Revolution led to the emergence of German language islands. The Author calls this period the first stage of stabilization and development, modifying slightly the proposal of the German researcher N. Berend. The article presents the main means of communication of Russian Germans: local dialects. In colonies inhabited by newcomers who on arrival spoke the same dialect, these codes retained certain archaic traits, yet simultaneously they evolved following internal rules, as colonies founded by settlers who used various dialects mixed with each other. In essence, every colony had its own dialect. In schools, churches, and official contacts, Germans also used a variant of German constituted in Russia, which approximated standard German.

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