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After a short historical summary which shows how todayʼs political and geographic distribution of the German language has evolved, the concept of a pluricentric language is developed, with German being a case in point. Following this, the various - seven to ten - “centers” of the language are outlined, illustrated by maps, with their prominent linguistic, demographic and political features, as a possible approach toward a comprehensive typology of the centers of pluricentric languages. It is argued that each center's specific standard variants, which make it an (autonomous) center of the language, are fully valid and correct within their respective political realm. Furthermore, the Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen is presented as the first comprehensive dictionary of a pluricentric language, containing the entire pluricentric variation of German. It is based on a newly conceived dictionary structure that provides easy access to any pluricentrally relevant linguistic feature. The central topic of the contribution is, however, the level of attraction of the various centers of a pluricentric language as tourist destinations for the inhabitants of the other centers of the same language. The study includes hints at possible methods of exploitation by the tourist industry - a topic also worthy of study for other pluricentric languages.
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