Ethnic and Linguistic Situation in the Towns and Settlements of Styrian Podravina and Pomurje in the Centuries Prior to 1800

Pri proučevanju etnično-jezikovnih razmer v obravnavanih štirih mestih in devetih trgih smo vezani predvsem na dve vrsti virov: 1) na imenski fond prebivalstva kot edini kolikor toliko relevantni pokazatelj etničnega izvora in potencialne etnične pripadnosti proučevane populacije ter 2) na narativne vire o prisotnosti posameznih jezikov v javni in zasebni sferi. Stoletja pred pojavom moderne narodne zavesti lahko v etnično-jezikovnem pogledu pogojno imenujemo čas »naravnega stanja«. Jezikovna asimilacija priseljencev, deloma sicer pogojena tudi s socialnimi razlogi, je v pretežno nemškem urbanem (mikro)okolju vodila v ponemčenje, v izrazito slovenskem pa tekla v obrnjeni smeri. Glavne značilnosti oziroma vloge različnih jezikov in etničnih skupin v mestnem in trškem okolju obravnavanega prostora je moč strniti v naslednjih ugotovitvah: Priseljevanje slovenskega podeželska življa je predstavljalo glavni vir fizične reprodukcije prebivalstva, povsem slovensko zaledje mest in trgov pa zagotavljalo, da je tudi nemško govoreče urbano prebivalstvo še globoko v 19. stoletje ostajalo vsaj funkcionalno dvojezično. Nemško je bilo vseskozi meščanstvo Maribora in Ptuja ter v manjši meri Slovenske Bistrice, medtem ko je šlo v mestecu Ormož in v večini trgov v glavnem za posamezne nemške priseljence in družine. Nemščina je imela zelo veliko družbeno vlogo kot domala edini pisni jezik ter jezik komunikacije s širšim prostorom, hrvaška kajkavska soseščina pa je s svojo pisno tradicijo spodbudno vplivala na skromno slovensko uradovalno pismenstvo v vzhodnem - obmejnem delu obravnavanega prostora. Jezikovno podobo mestno-trškega okolja so ne nazadnje zaznamovale številne medjezikovne interference ter funkcionalna dvo- in večjezičnost njegovih prebivalcev.In conducting research into the ethnic and linguistic situation in the four cities and nine settlements selected for this study, the investigation is limited by two types of sources: 1. the pool of names of inhabitants as the sole, more or less relevant indicator of ethnic sources and potential ethnicity of the population being examined, and 2. narrative sources testifying to the presence of individual languages in public and private use. In the linguistic sense, the centuries prior to the emergence of the modern national consciousness can be conditionally referred to as the time of the ‘natural state.’ The linguistic assimilation of newcomers in predominantly German urban (micro)surroundings, partially caused by social reasons among other things, led to Germanization, while in markedly Slovenian areas it went in the opposite direction. The principal features, or rather the role, of different linguistic and ethnic groups in the milieu of cities and other settlements in the area being studied can be fit into the following two facts: immigration of Slovenian rural inhabitants was the main source of physical reproduction of the population, while the Slovenian environs of cities and settlements meant that even the German-speaking urban population remained at least functionally bilingual until well into the nineteenth century. The citizenry of Maribor and Ptuj, and to a lesser extent Slovenska Bistrica, was largely German, while in the town of Ormož and most settlements, it was generally a matter of individual German settlers and their families. German played an exceptionally major social role as almost the sole written language and language of communication over a broader area. Meanwhile, the neighbouring Croatian Kajkavian zone, with its written tradition, had a stimulating impact on the modest Slovenian official literacy in the border zone of the area under consideration. The linguistic status of the areas surrounding cities and other settlements continued to be formed by numerous inter-linguistic influences and the functional bi- and multilingual nature of its inhabitants