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Deutsch
Karl-Heinz Göttert erzählt die spannende Biografie der deutschen Sprache, von ihren sagenumwobenen Anfängen über den Durchbruch als Nationalsprache bis hin zur Wiederkehr der Dialekte. Sein Fazit: Die deutsche Sprache hat im Lauf der Jahrhunderte viel erlebt, hat Einflüsse aus anderen Sprachen integriert und es doch immer geschafft, ihren eigenen Charakter zu bewahren.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 2, 2023
While Karl-Heinz Göttert's Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (which title translated into English means that the author is attempting to present a biography of the German language) is indeed readable, enlightening and above all penned in an approachable and often delightfully entertaining manner of expression and style, personally I do have to admit that right from the onset, right from the first few chapters, there is something that is for me not always quite comme il faut with regard to this book.
For one, although I am NOT a German language (and linguistics) expert by any stretch of the imagination, I did indeed have to study both basic general linguistics and German language history for my German literature PhD (and in particular for my First Comprehensive Exam). And quite frankly, I have sadly and frustratingly been rather unpleasantly surprised at and by the amount of factual errors (and occasional language based mythologies) that Karl-Heinz Göttert features and indeed also seemingly much promotes as acceptable and unassailable historical facts within the pages of Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (a glaring example of this being how the author claims that for die Strassburger Eide, the Strasbourg Oaths of 842 c.e. Louis the German swore his oath in his mother tongue, in Old High German, while Charles the Bald swore his oath in his mother tongue, in Old French, when in reality, the exact opposite was the case, namely that Louis the German swore his oath in Old French and Charles the Bald swore his oath in Old High German, so as to cement the symbolism of togetherness and the trust of two nations joining forces, a rather problematic and obvious mistake that really does make me shake my head more than a bit, as when I was reading about the Strasbourg Oaths whilst studying for my first comp, which monarch used which language was pretty clearly shown and known from historical sources, and this is also not the only error I have noticed in Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache, but I guess it is the one I personally have noticed as the most inherently problematic and glaring).
And for two, and perhaps even more of an issue for me on an academic, intellectual level, while Karl-Heinz Göttert presents his Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache as being first and foremost a book on German language and linguistic history, sorry, but in my opinion, there is much too much of an emphasis on German literature and on the history of German literature featured and shown in Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (with information and details on linguistic changes, on language form and the like actually often seemingly taking second place to the author presenting an account on the timelines of German written and literary documents, something that is indeed interesting and even important, but also something that should not as it has with Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache more often than not supersede questions of language, usage, grammatical form and syntax).
Combined with the fact that I am also not all that much in agreement with Karl-Heinz Göttert's personal assessment that the recent inundation of anglicisms and especially American English idiomatic expressions into modern standard German is as unproblematic, is as mild as he seems to claim and assume (and no, I am not in any way a nationalistic alarmist who thinks that the German language is in any danger of extinction from and through foreign words, but I also do tend to believe that Karl-Heinz Göttert is being just a wee bit too much laid back and nonchalant here), while I have certainly found much of the presented text of Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache interesting and even enjoyable, the annoying mistakes, the fact that the book reads way too much like a literary and not a linguistic history of German and yes, that Karl-Heinz Göttert is definitely in my opinion a trifle too overconfidently unconcerned with regard to how anglicised modern German is becoming (especially orally, especially with regard to slang and discourse), does make me only consider a two star ranking at best for Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (not a terrible book and even with occasional flashes of brilliant insight, but sadly with far too many potential issues to recommend without reservations).
For one, although I am NOT a German language (and linguistics) expert by any stretch of the imagination, I did indeed have to study both basic general linguistics and German language history for my German literature PhD (and in particular for my First Comprehensive Exam). And quite frankly, I have sadly and frustratingly been rather unpleasantly surprised at and by the amount of factual errors (and occasional language based mythologies) that Karl-Heinz Göttert features and indeed also seemingly much promotes as acceptable and unassailable historical facts within the pages of Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (a glaring example of this being how the author claims that for die Strassburger Eide, the Strasbourg Oaths of 842 c.e. Louis the German swore his oath in his mother tongue, in Old High German, while Charles the Bald swore his oath in his mother tongue, in Old French, when in reality, the exact opposite was the case, namely that Louis the German swore his oath in Old French and Charles the Bald swore his oath in Old High German, so as to cement the symbolism of togetherness and the trust of two nations joining forces, a rather problematic and obvious mistake that really does make me shake my head more than a bit, as when I was reading about the Strasbourg Oaths whilst studying for my first comp, which monarch used which language was pretty clearly shown and known from historical sources, and this is also not the only error I have noticed in Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache, but I guess it is the one I personally have noticed as the most inherently problematic and glaring).
And for two, and perhaps even more of an issue for me on an academic, intellectual level, while Karl-Heinz Göttert presents his Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache as being first and foremost a book on German language and linguistic history, sorry, but in my opinion, there is much too much of an emphasis on German literature and on the history of German literature featured and shown in Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (with information and details on linguistic changes, on language form and the like actually often seemingly taking second place to the author presenting an account on the timelines of German written and literary documents, something that is indeed interesting and even important, but also something that should not as it has with Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache more often than not supersede questions of language, usage, grammatical form and syntax).
Combined with the fact that I am also not all that much in agreement with Karl-Heinz Göttert's personal assessment that the recent inundation of anglicisms and especially American English idiomatic expressions into modern standard German is as unproblematic, is as mild as he seems to claim and assume (and no, I am not in any way a nationalistic alarmist who thinks that the German language is in any danger of extinction from and through foreign words, but I also do tend to believe that Karl-Heinz Göttert is being just a wee bit too much laid back and nonchalant here), while I have certainly found much of the presented text of Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache interesting and even enjoyable, the annoying mistakes, the fact that the book reads way too much like a literary and not a linguistic history of German and yes, that Karl-Heinz Göttert is definitely in my opinion a trifle too overconfidently unconcerned with regard to how anglicised modern German is becoming (especially orally, especially with regard to slang and discourse), does make me only consider a two star ranking at best for Deutsch: Biografie einer Sprache (not a terrible book and even with occasional flashes of brilliant insight, but sadly with far too many potential issues to recommend without reservations).
April 5, 2012
3.5 Sterne. Das Buch ist zwar interessant beim Lesen, doch der Titel mag täuschen. Die Pointen beziehen sich eher auf das Überlebenschancen des Deutschen dem Englischen gegenüber. Dies wird durch kurze, wenig anbietende Analyse der Sprachgeschichte durchgeführt. Demzufolge herrscht Mangel an biografischen Qualitäten, weswegen nicht genau 4 Sterne oder 5. Nichtsdestotrotz hat ein beträchtlicher Teil des Buches mir gut gefallen.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews