MiNGra : University of Hamburg

Middle Low German Grammar

MiNGra: New Grammatical Research

The long-term project "Middle Low German Grammar (MiNGra)" of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg is developing a modern, web-based grammar of Middle Low German. It is based on a comprehensive text corpus, which allows grammatical variation to be systematically analysed.

Closing the Research Gap

There is no comprehensive scholarly grammar of Middle Low German that reflects the current state of research. The reference grammar, which is still in use today, was published by Agathe Lasch in 1914.

Photo: UHH/MiNGra

Historical Grammar Tradition

Agathe Lasch's grammar deals only selectively with linguistic differences and language change. At that time a broad systematic text basis was not yet available.

Photo: Universitätsbibliothek Paderborn

Digital Basis of the Project

MiNGra is based on an extensive digital text corpus. This enables quantitative and qualitative analyses of grammatical structures and linguistic variation.

Photo: UHH

Focus on Language Variation

The focal point is the investigation of grammatical variation. Differences can be due to location, time period or text type and are systematically documented.

Oldenburger Bilderhandschrift des Sachsenspiegels, Landesbibliothek Oldenburg, Cim 410 I, fol 6r

Photo: Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung

Research and Teaching

The aim of the project is to create both a grammar book and a multidimensional, web-based grammar of Middle Low German. They are designed to be used both in research and in university teaching.