German Studies: Language and Linguistics

Abstract

A major work which appeared towards the end of the review year is Ulrich Ammon, Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt, Berlin, de Gruyter, xviii + 1296 pp. Assessing the global position of the German language and its recent history, A. views the position of German in the context of a global constellation of competing languages, examining unique features and congruities in such areas as business, science, diplomacy, linguistics, word art, the media, and foreign language instruction. The perennial debate as to whether the German language is in decline is the subject of Sprachverfall. Dynamik-Wandel-Variation, ed. Albrecht Plewnia and Andreas Witt, Berlin, de Gruyter, viii + 371 pp., which contains contributions from many prominent scholars, both from Germany and elsewhere. The volume has two principal foci, namely providing a comprehensive analysis of the discourse on perceived language decline, and offering a sociolinguistic perspective on the processes underlying the public debate on the topic. Chapters include Wini Davies and Nils Langer, ‘Die Sprachnormfrage im Deutschunterricht: das Dilemma der Lehrenden’ (299–321) and Martin Durrell, ‘Mit der Sprache ging es immer schon bergab Dynamik, Wandel und Variation aus sprachhistorischer Perspektive’ (11–31). A new and insightful contribution to another long-standing debate surrounding the German language, namely the extent to which Martin Luther can be considered to be the Schopfer of the New High German written language, is made by Werner Besch, Luther und die deutsche Sprache. 500 Jahre deutsche Sprachgeschichte im Lichte der neueren Forschung, Berlin, Schmidt, 181 pp. Another excellent work on Luther is Friedhelm Debus, ‘Uber Martin Luthers Bedeutung in sprachlicher und literarischer Perspektive’, Sprachwissenschaft, 39:425–43. Both Besch and Debus conclude that, despite Luther’s linguistic creativity, his decisive literary achievements, and his historical importance, that a conception of him as the Schopfer of the New High German written language would not be justified. Albrecht Greule, Deutsches Gewassernamenbuch: Etymologie der Gewassernamen und der zugehorigen Gebiets-, Siedlungsund Flurnamen, Berlin, de Gruyter, 800 pp., is an important publication in which the German names of lakes, rivers and associated place names are analysed from a linguistic perspective and presented comprehensively and with careful and copious etymological information. A further study of topographical names is Jacqueline Reber, Strukturen und Muster in der Namenwelt: Quantitative und qualitative Untersuchungen zum Toponymenbestand der beiden Solothurner Amteien Dorneck-Thierstein und Oltgen-Gosgen, Tubingen, Francke, 294 pp., which links structures and patterns in names to the corresponding topographical and historical events. An intriguing study of family names is Fernande Krier,