»Denn wir in Hannover ßprechen das raanste Deutsch.« Der hannoversche Sprachgebrauch aus subjektiver Perspektive

Across the German-speaking community, the topos of Hanover being the center of standard German is widely known. Which is also why it did not come as a surprise that even the interviewees of the DFG project »Die Stadtsprache Hannovers« (»The Urban Vernacular of Hanover«) consider themselves to be speaking the best standard German and refer to this myth. Less known, however, is »Hannoversch« (»Hanoverian«), the urban vernacular of Lower Saxony's state capital based on standard German, which is characterized in particular by distinct vocalic, but also consonantal characteristics. Where knowledge of Hanoverian exists, it is quite diverse: Hanoverian is seen as a regional urban variety, a sociolect or even a mere historical language. This article takes a deeper look into the standardized realization (topos) and regional variation (Hanoverian) from a subjective perspective. To this end, an exemplary variety of subjective data of the project will be presented and interpreted, focusing on the two poles of the Hanoverian language usage.