Reichtum der Sprache

The volume assembles 29 selected articles on Germanic studies (Germanistics) and linguistics by Helmut Henne from the period between 1968 and 2003. 'Germanistics' and 'linguistics' come together in the name 'Germanistic linguistics' designating a subject established by Helmut Henne and others in the early 1970s. It is a product of the academic discourse conducted in modern-language departments at the time and has established itself in the institutional structure of German universities without discontinuing the traditional contacts with Old Germanic studies, literary history, and philology. The four chapters of the volume centre around four different research fields in Germanistic linguistics. They all represent a celebration of the richness of language: semantics and lexicography; group languages (yesterday, today, tomorrow); the linguistics of conversation; language history and literary linguistics. The studies assembled here outline the history of 'Germanistic linguistics', reflect it, and at the same time point to its potential development in the future. Examples of the latter case are cognitive linguistics and 'hypertext lexicography', the linguistics of language varieties, applied dialogue research, and a critique of language firmly rooted both in philology and linguistics.