A history of German : what the past reveals about today's language / Joseph Salmons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salmons, Joe, 1956-

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

German language--History.

German language.

History.

Physical Description:

1 volume : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Assumes no background in linguistics

Provides a detailed, in-depth analysis

Covers both structural changes and social influences

Illuminated current theory and research

Supported by a companion website

This book provides a detailed introduction to the development of the German language from the earliest reconstructible prehistory to the present day. A key to understanding how any human language works is understanding how that language developed over time. German speakers, as well as language learners and teachers, are often puzzled by many questions about the German language: How did German come to have so many different dialects and close linguistic cousins like Dutch and Plattdeutsch? Why does German have 'umlaut' vowels and why do they play so many different roles in the grammar (noun plurals and subjunctive verbs, among many more)? Why are noun plurals so complicated (-e, -en, -er, umlaut, -s or nothing at all)? Are there, reasons for the different genders assigned to nouns in the language (die Woche versus das Auge)? Are dialects dying out today? Does English, with all the words it loans to German, pose a threat to the language? Full, satisfying answers to many of these questions are emerging in current research and this book presents, man accessible manner, a concise linguistic introduction to the history of German as specialists understand it today. The book is supported by a companion website and is suitable for language learners: as well as teachers and students of linguistics, from undergraduate level upwards. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: aims and scope 1

2 The depths of prehistory: up to Indo-European 11

3 The dawn of history: Germanic up to the earliest direct attestation 31

4 From Germanic to Old High German: early textual evidence 101

5 Middle High German: the High Middle Ages 172

6 Early New High German: richer structural evidence and socio-historical context 227

7 New High German: recent and ongoing change 285

8 Conclusion: interpreting the significance of the past for us 342.

Notes:

Includes Internet access.

ISBN:

9780199697939

0199697930

9780199697946

0199697949

OCLC:

811323307