摘要：On the basis of a cognitive approach to space in the tradition of Georg
Simmel, I argue in this paper that geopolitical (above all, national) borders
should be looked upon as cognitive constructs intimately linked to the
“imagined communities” (Andersen) they delimit. These “imagined borders”
can nonetheless have a strong impact on the dialect continua which
they crosscut. Dialect divergence at the national borders of Germany is
therefore not due to impeded communication as suggested in traditional
dialectology (Verkehr); rather, the borders are the limits (boundaries) of
the reach of the national standard languages or of repertoire types which
symbolise, in some way or other, nation-state identities. Divergence can be
expected to increase to the degree that (in this order) (a) the national
standard languages, (b) the repertoire types (diaglossic/diglossic) or (c)
the regional dialects differ on both sides of the border.
