This book is about the struggle for social power in the interethnic context of the Austrian
part of the 19th Austro-Hungarian Empire. It explores how the struggle for power is reflected
in attempts to control language use at different levels of discursive interaction and how in
a context of intricate and multiple language contact language became a prominent site for
interethnic controversies and conflict. The book shows how in the wake of ongoing
democratization in particular in 1848-1849 and after 1860 the non-German speaking
nationalities of the Empire attempted to redefine their status by demanding recognition of
their languages and cultures while German-dominated state nationalism tried to reestablish its
endangered hegemony by granting linguistic and cultural autonomy to the various ethnic groups.
