Quotessence
Home / Authors / Martin Puchner

Martin Puchner Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIdentityItinerantLanguagesLinguisticsLogicMisguidedPrejudiceResilienceRotwelsch

Famous Martin Puchner Quotes

“What will endure, I hope, is the idea of Rotwelsch, the idea that marginalized groups develop special languages as tools for survival. We often think of such groups in terms of ethnic identity, but the identity of Rotwelsch speakers was defined by being outside the order of settled society, period. From this position as complete outsiders, they forged an identity by borrowing from the languages around them, with astonishing resilience and inventiveness. Having been cast out from society, they created an idiom that expressed their hard-earned wisdom, their willingness to live differently, and their sheer will to survive.”

IdentityResilienceLinguisticsLanguagesItinerantRotwelsch
Book:The Language of Thieves: My Family's Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate
Create image