The German Language A Linguistic Introduction

The German Language introduces students of German to a linguistic way of looking at the language. Written from a Chomskyan perspective, this volume covers the basic structural components of the German language: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and the lexicon. Chapters on stylistics, historical background, and contemporary variation complete the discussion of German. The book is enhanced by exercises, definitions of key terms, and suggestions for further reading. This volume is a valuable resource not only for students of German language and literature, but also for linguists with little or no background in the language.

Jean Boase-Beier is Senior Lecturer in German, Linguistics and Translation Studies in the School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies of the University of East Anglia, where she runs the MA course in literary translation. She is author of Poetic Compounds: The Principles of Poetic Language in Modern English Poetry (1987) as well as many articles on morphology and translation. She is also editor of The Practices of Literary Translation (with M. Holman, 1999).

Ken Lodge is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Phonetics at the School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies of the University of East Anglia. He is author of Studies in the Phonology of Colloquial English (1984), as well as numerous articles on phonology.

Preface

ix

Abbreviations

xi

1 Introduction

1

(15)

1.1 What is the German Language?

1

(2)

1.2 A Linguistic Description

3

(2)

1.3 The Grammar and Grammatical Knowledge

5

(6)

1.4 Other Linguistic Knowledge

11

(3)

1.5 Further Reading

14

(2)

2 Syntax

16

(32)

2.1 The Concept of Syntax

16

(6)

2.2 Phrase Structures of German

22

(6)

2.3 Case in German

28

(4)

2.4 The Position of the German Verb

32

(8)

2.5 Syntactic Processes

40

(5)

2.6 Further Reading

45

(3)

Exercises

46

(2)

3 Morphology

48

(42)

3.1 Morphemes and Morphology

48

(4)

3.2 Morphology and Word-Formation

52

(26)

3.2.1 Inflection

53

(2)

3.2.2 Derivation

55

(7)

3.2.3 Compounding

62

(7)

3.2.4 Conversion

69

(3)

3.2.5 Other Morphological Processes

72

(6)

3.3 The Relationship between Morphology and Phonology

78

(2)

3.4 Productivity

80

(2)

3.5 Borrowings from Other Languages

82

(3)

3.6 The Relationship between Morphology and Syntax

85

(3)

3.7 Further Reading

88

(2)

Exercises

89

(1)

4 Phonetics

90

(17)

4.1 Introduction

90

(1)

4.2 Air-stream Type

91

(1)

4.3 State of the Glottis

92

(1)

4.4 State of the Velum

93

(1)

4.5 Oral Articulators

93

(1)

4.6 Manner

94

(2)

4.7 Lip Position

96

(1)

4.8 Vocoid Articulations

97

(3)

4.9 Place of Articulation

100

(2)

4.10 Resonance

102

(1)

4.11 Voice Onset Time

103

(1)

4.12 The Transcription of German and English

104

(2)

4.13 Further Reading

106

(1)

Exercises

106

(1)

5 Phonology

107

(34)

5.1 Preliminaries

107

(3)

5.2 Syllable Structure

110

(7)

5.3 The Obstruents

117

(6)

5.4 Affricates

123

(1)

5.5 Nasals

124

(1)

5.6 Other Consonants

125

(2)

5.7 Vowels

127

(6)

5.8 Connected Speech

133

(7)

5.8.1 Assimilation

134

(2)

5.8.2 Lenition

136

(1)

5.8.3 Shortening

137

(1)

5.8.4 Deletion

138

(2)

5.9 Further Reading

140

(1)

Exercises

140

(1)

6 Lexis

141

(23)

6.1 The Lexicon and the Nature of Lexical Entries

141

(2)

6.2 Thematic Structure

143

(2)

6.3 Categories of Lexical Items

145

(2)

6.4 The Meaning of Lexical Items

147

(3)

6.5 The Nature of Lexical Items

150

(4)

6.6 Relations among Lexical Items

154

(2)

6.7 Sense Relations

156

(6)

6.8 Further Reading

162

(2)

Exercises

163

(1)

7 Stylistics

164

(29)

7.1 Stylistics and the Style of Texts

164

(1)

7.2 Style and Deviation

165

(5)

7.3 Stylistic Principles

170

(2)

7.4 Metaphor

172

(3)

7.5 Repetition

175

(2)

7.6 Iconicity

177

(3)

7.7 Compression

180

(2)

7.8 Ambiguity

182

(4)

7.9 Cohesion

186

(2)

7.10 Style and Choice

188

(3)

7.11 Further Reading

191

(2)

Exercises

192

(1)

8 Historical Background

193

(22)

8.1 Preliminaries

193

(2)

8.2 Phonology

195

(4)

8.3 Umlaut

199

(1)

8.4 Morphology

200

(4)

8.5 Syntactic Changes

204

(2)

8.6 Lexical and Semantic Changes

206

(4)

8.7 External Influences

210

(3)

8.8 Further Reading

213

(2)

Exercises

214

(1)

9 Contemporary Variation

215

(22)

9.1 Preliminaries

215

(3)

9.2 Variation by Use

218

(7)

9.3 Variation by User

225

(11)

9.3.1 Regional Accents

226

(5)

9.3.2 Morphological and Syntactic Variation

231

(3)

9.3.3 Lexical Variation

234

(2)

9.4 Further Reading

236

(1)

Exercises

236

(1)

References

237

(12)

Index

249

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The German Language A Linguistic Introduction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials