Editing German language (section)

===Reform of 1996 and beyond===
The German spelling reform of 1996 led to public controversy and considerable dispute. Some state parliaments (Bundesländer) would not accept it ([[North Rhine-Westphalia|North Rhine Westphalia]] and [[Bavaria]]). The dispute landed at one point in the highest court, which made a short issue of it, claiming that the states had to decide for themselves and that only in schools could the reform be made the official rule—everybody else could continue writing as they had learned it. After 10 years, without any intervention by the federal parliament, a major revision was installed in 2006, just in time for the coming school year. In 2007, some traditional spellings were finally invalidated. The only sure and easily recognizable symptom of a text's being in compliance with the reform is the -ss at the end of words, such as ''dass'' and ''muss''. Classic spelling forbade this ending, instead using ''daß'' and ''muß''.
The cause of the controversy evolved around the question of whether a language is part of the culture which must be preserved or a means of communicating information which has to allow for growth.