THE FORMATION OF ORTHOGRAPHIC NORM IN GERMAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The article is about the formation of orthographic norm in German language since the XVII century up to the present time. The stages of the formation of German orthographic norm are examined with the description of the main characteristics of each of them. On the basis of the research works of prominent Ukrainian and foreign linguists and conference documents related to the formation and codification of a definite orthographic norm in German (Standarddeutsch) from the XVII century up to the present day, a certain simplification of certain spelling rules in modern German and more consistent adherence to the etymological principle of spelling have been revealed. The aim of this paper is to describe the processes of orthographic norm formation in the German language. The object of the research is orthographic peculiarities of the German written language in XVII–XIX centuries. The subject of the research is orthographic changes in the German language in the XVII–XIX centuries. The research is based on the works of prominent Ukrainian and foreign linguists and conference documents related to the formation and codification of a universally accepted orthographic norm in the German language. The conducted research has revealed the ways in which the orthographic norm in the German language has developed. Undoubtedly, all the authors of the various orthographic reforms were motivated to improve German spelling in order to meet the cultural objectives of the German language at every stage of its development. However, only time will show how much the new rules will ease the task of using the German language in writing. In our opinion, the authors of the latest reform avoided radical reforms, which explains, for example, the preservation of capitalization of nouns in German. The results of the study can be useful in lectures on the History of the German Language, Historical Phonetics of the German Language, as well as in teaching and learning a practical course of German.