Subjective and objective language data collected in a research project on language variation in north Germany not only reveal information on current linguistic trends in north Germany; they also show how language change in this region is represented in the consciousness of the speakers themselves and described in comments by them. This diachronic dimension is supported, in the case of Brandenburg, by means of lexicographical data and recordings that were made within the framework of the Brandenburg/ Berlin Dictionary compiled around 1960. It becomes clear that the original area of Low German varieties in Brandenburg has, for a long time time now, not been structured by distinct languages or the polarity between dialect and standard, but rather by certain varieties of spoken German (vsG) or 'Sprachlagen' 1 that display regional features alongside everyday linguistic forms and - at least this is my hypothesis - are developing into a regional standard variety.