The document provides information about the linguistics history of Luxembourg through a presentation by Harish Kumar and Saif ur Rahman. Luxembourg has three official languages: Luxembourgish, French, and German due to its multilingual history. While Luxembourgish was traditionally the main language spoken, French gained prominence over the 19th century for administrative purposes through laws that made it a mandatory school subject. Today, all three languages remain important in Luxembourg's culture and literature.

1. A presentAtion by
 HArisH
kumAr &
SaiF uR RahmaN
on

3. 
Luxemburg is a country in Western Europe
bordered by Belgium to the west and north,
Germany to the east, and France to the south.

It is the world’s only sovereign grand duchy.

Capital Luxembourg City is the largest city and
Luxembourg has a population of 524,853.

Luxembourg has an area of 2,586 square
kilometers.

4. 



Luxembourg is one of six founding
members of the European union, which
was established in 1951 as the European
coal and steel community.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a
representative democracy in the form of
a constitutional monarchy, with a
hereditary crown.
The Grand Duke is its head of state.
King Sigefroid is considered the founder
of Luxembourg.

5. 



Luxembourg is a trilingual country:
Luxembourgish, French and German are
official language.
German is taught from the very first school
year, while French is taught the following
years.
German is the main language for primary
education, as well as for the first few years of
secondary classical and secondary technical
education.
French, however, is used predominantly in
secondary classical education.

6. LINGUISTIC HISTORY
Luxembourg’s multilingualism is rooted in the historical coexistence of two ethnic groups, one Romance and the
other Germanic.

7. The name Lucilinburhuc
means “small castle” in
Old German.

8. 

The territory was divided into two major
areas, in which different dialects were spoken:
Walloon in the French-speaking part and the
Luxembourgish dialect in the Germanspeaking part.
This period marked a time of juxtaposed
bilingualism (a term coined by the historian
Gilbert Trausch) , with the two languages not
spoken by one and the same person.

9. Under the first French occupation by King
Louis XIV, the use of German was virtually
banned. A century later, under the impact of
the French Revolution, French continued to
gain lasting ground, infiltrating the local
administration of the German-speaking zone.
The Napoleonic Code was introduced in 1804.
Lëtzebuergesch remained the everyday language
spoken by all the inhabitants.

10. 

The London Treaty of 1839 reduced to its
present size (2,586 km2), with its new territory
situated entirely in the German-speaking zone.
The German language could have toppled the
superiority of French once and for all. But the
lack of support shown by William II, king of
the Netherlands and grand duke of
Luxembourg, to German officials allowed the
influential Luxembourg notables to enforce
French as the administrative, legislative and
political language.

11. To shield it from nationalist “germanisation”
attempts, a crucial law was passed: French was
henceforth to be a compulsory school subject,
in the same capacity as German. French lessons
were introduced from primary school onwards
and the linguistic syllabus was implemented
once and for all by the school reform of 1912.

12. Languages generally
preferred
by Luxembourg
residents
when watching TV
Luxembourg nationals
All residents
Lëtzebuergesch
24 %
18 %
French
24 %
34 %
German
50 %
40 %
Other
1%
8%

13. Luxembourg has its own film production industry.
On average, the country produces or coproduces
one to two feature films and six to ten short films
and documentaries a year Unlike countries such as
France and Germany, where most films are shown
in their dubbed version, almost all films in
Luxembourg, with the exception of children’s
films, are presented in their original version with
subtitles. This original-version film culture reflects
the multilingualism that prevails in the Grand
Duchy.

15. Loosely translated as ‘Girl With Pearl Earring’, This film, adapted
from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story
about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl
With a Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes
Vermeer. Little is known about the girl in the painting, it is
speculated that she was a maid who lived in the house of the
painter along with his family and other servants, though there is
no historical evidence. This masterful film attempts to recreate the
mysterious girl's life. Griet is a maid in the house of painter
Johannes Vermeer. His wealthy patron and sole means of support,
Van Ruijven, commissions him to paint Griet with the intent that
he will have her for himself before it is finished. She must
somehow secretly pose for the crucial painting without the
knowledge of Vermeer's wife, avoid Van Ruijven's grasp, and
protect herself from the cruel gossip of the world of a 17th century
servant.

16. 1) Griet: Good morning, madam.
Catharina: Don't speak until you are spoken to.
2) [to Vermeer, after seeing her own portrait for the first time]
Griet: You looked inside me...
1)
mc1.mp4
2)
mc2.mp4

17. 

Luxembourgish authors write in one or more
of the three official languages because of the
linguistic diversity of Luxembourg.
Despite the use of French and German for
administrative purposes, it was Lëtzebuerger
Däitsch, now known as Luxembourgish, which
was behind the development of Luxembourg's
literature in the 19th century, contributing
much to the consolidation of the national
identity.

18. 
Lambert Schlector
&

Félix Thyes

19. Lambert Schlector (born 1941) is
a Luxembourgish author who has written in both
German and French but has now adopted French as
his preferred language. His work includes poetry,
novels, essays and contributions to newspapers and
magazines.

20. It is a poetic collection. The poem preamble, “en guise
d’autoportrait“("by way of self-portrait") calls and launches
color collection. And if poetry was the only possible selfportrait? When art fragment joined the singing-did we not
there in the hollow of language, the most faithful attempt
autobiography, which is being in all its movement, its
fretwork, its white, his will to live and his refusal to die, his
elusiveness soul than words, shifty, struggling to
express caressing and releasing soon. If the verse, with its
evocative power, its brevity, its density could only take "the
name / Sling", and with him the art of enjoying, live &
die, the one that anaphora through the text? In L'envers de
tous les endroits , we find poems exploded, the beautiful
and intricate web of diarist, oscillating between "fullness &
lack, life & death. Here he fights against the fascination of
nothingness, this "side of all places/envers de tous les
endroits," this ’absolute pleasure’ against the inevitable
death that he refuses to resign.

21. The poet slips in the text, to simple words, almost childish
sometimes ("there is death coming / and the sun shines"), the
reverse of his soul refusing to yield to lament, he foils with
humor about fear of disappearance, learns to combine the fear
of death with bursts of daily life (“the room I prefer/ is your
flowered room/ and no matter when / if your beautiful scarf is my
shroud cloth"), to see this promise of shade means splitting the
brightness of life ("candle gives light if it burns / she is not living
in dying") to replace the missing all fullness. Questioning
death, with a soul as contemplative as laughing ("drowsiness
and its euphoria / we already know / why another drowsiness / she
would frighten us?"), He then shoots all the above joys and
enjoyments of life.

22. J’aime et n’aime pas la poésie
la plupart des poètes m’ennuient dans neuf
poèmes sur dix
je trébuche d’un vers à l’autre cascades
d’indécises syllabes
leur glouglou ne me mouille pas mais après
neuf poèmes le dixième :
mots qui explosent et font trembler et je lis un
poème qui change ma vie

23. Félix Thyes (1830–1855) is recognized as the
first Luxembourg author to write a novel in
French. Marc Bruno, profil d'artiste was published
shortly after his death in 1855. He was also the
first literary historian to discuss literature written
in Luxembourgish.

24. Marc Bruno: portrait d'un artiste is a psychological novel
associating romanticism with realism. It is the story of an
unfortunate medical student in Brussels who pays his
way by painting pictures in the attic where he lives. He
falls in love with an aristocratic girl but she soon leaves
him for someone of her own class. Finally he finds a girl
he dearly loved during his childhood only to discover she
is now a prostitute and wants to have nothing more to do
with him. One morning he finds her body on a dissection
table at the university. He finally decides to devote
himself fully to medical practice and ends up in a small
village where he can immerse himself in his work. But he
soon falls in love once more….

25. THANK YOU