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German: A Linguistic Introduction
Standard German is spoken by approximately 95 million people worldwide. This book provides an introduction to the linguistic structure of standard German that is rich in descriptive detail and grounded in modern linguistic theory. It describes the main linguistic the sounds, structure and formation of words, structure of sentences, and meaning of words and sentences. It surveys the history of the language, the major dialects, German in Austria and Switzerland, as well as sociolinguistic issues such as style, language and gender, youth language, and English influence on German. Prior knowledge of German is not required, as glosses and translations of the German examples are provided. Each chapter includes exercises designed to give the reader practical experience in analyzing the language. It is an essential learning tool for undergraduate and graduate students in German and linguistics.
- GenresLinguistics
332 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2012
Sarah M. B. Fagan's GERMAN: A Linguistic Introduction is an introduction to a number of facets of the German language for students with a linguistics background. She covers phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, the history of the language, regional variation and several issues of sociolinguistics.
Fagan's target audience will immediately find practical and useful information here, especially in the chapter on phonology. Here Fagan goes real deep into allophonic variation, describing the language's pronunciation in far greater detail than any textbook. Each rule is represented in specialist notation. Whenever there are different theories on phonological rules, Fagan mentions them.
The chapter on morphology is the least important chapter here, I think, offering little beyond any detailed German reference grammar. The history of the language begins from Proto-Indo-European, although information on the pre-Old High German stages is brief and drawn solely from Fortson's textbook of Indo-European linguistics. It picks up with the Old High German stage, however, and for me this chapter clarified some questions I had about medieval texts and how they compare to modern German. The chapter on regional variation goes not only into the standard speech of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also discusses dialectal zones within Germany and represents isoglosses on a map.
The chapter on sociolingustics is dominated by descriptions of the speech of youth and of immigrant labourers. The downside of Fagan's book is the datedness of the references in this chapter. Although published in 2009, it draws almost solely on references from the 1990s. Thus the reader has no idea if the differences reported between speech of the former East Germany and the West still exist, and the young people's slang she describes is surely antiquated by now.
Still, that quibble aside, I'd recommend this book to anyone learning German who could use a boost from linguistic theory. As I myself am trying to take my German from a passive reading knowledge gained mostly through osmosis to speaking proficiency, I got a lot from this book.
Fagan's target audience will immediately find practical and useful information here, especially in the chapter on phonology. Here Fagan goes real deep into allophonic variation, describing the language's pronunciation in far greater detail than any textbook. Each rule is represented in specialist notation. Whenever there are different theories on phonological rules, Fagan mentions them.
The chapter on morphology is the least important chapter here, I think, offering little beyond any detailed German reference grammar. The history of the language begins from Proto-Indo-European, although information on the pre-Old High German stages is brief and drawn solely from Fortson's textbook of Indo-European linguistics. It picks up with the Old High German stage, however, and for me this chapter clarified some questions I had about medieval texts and how they compare to modern German. The chapter on regional variation goes not only into the standard speech of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also discusses dialectal zones within Germany and represents isoglosses on a map.
The chapter on sociolingustics is dominated by descriptions of the speech of youth and of immigrant labourers. The downside of Fagan's book is the datedness of the references in this chapter. Although published in 2009, it draws almost solely on references from the 1990s. Thus the reader has no idea if the differences reported between speech of the former East Germany and the West still exist, and the young people's slang she describes is surely antiquated by now.
Still, that quibble aside, I'd recommend this book to anyone learning German who could use a boost from linguistic theory. As I myself am trying to take my German from a passive reading knowledge gained mostly through osmosis to speaking proficiency, I got a lot from this book.
August 19, 2024
Fagan is a gifted writer and linguist, and is able to balance both scientific specificity with accessibility.
However, I had to dock one star, as I found the writing about Swiss German to be inaccurate, not only as it’s more than one language, but also when she discussed the difference in meaning of certain Swiss German words to their German counterparts.
E.g., suggesting that “schlimm” means ‘clever’ in Swiss German, as opposed to ‘bad’ in Standard German. Not only I, but many other Swiss people of varying ages I asked about this disagreed with me.
While I am aware this was published in 2009, and language (especially amongst youths) changes, I found this and a couple of similar examples relating to Swiss German to be inaccurate. However, I think the explanations, rationalisations and general rules she identifies are accurate.
I would still recommend this book, just not to those interested in current Swiss German vocabulary.
Perhaps my criticism is inaccurate due to changes in usage since publication. Fagan is certainly a better linguist than I am anyway, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
However, I had to dock one star, as I found the writing about Swiss German to be inaccurate, not only as it’s more than one language, but also when she discussed the difference in meaning of certain Swiss German words to their German counterparts.
E.g., suggesting that “schlimm” means ‘clever’ in Swiss German, as opposed to ‘bad’ in Standard German. Not only I, but many other Swiss people of varying ages I asked about this disagreed with me.
While I am aware this was published in 2009, and language (especially amongst youths) changes, I found this and a couple of similar examples relating to Swiss German to be inaccurate. However, I think the explanations, rationalisations and general rules she identifies are accurate.
I would still recommend this book, just not to those interested in current Swiss German vocabulary.
Perhaps my criticism is inaccurate due to changes in usage since publication. Fagan is certainly a better linguist than I am anyway, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
December 4, 2019
Very informative and accessible book. I have only a limited experience with linguistic terminology, but the concise and clear definitions made this book an enjoyable and interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews