Overview

This volume consists of six essays on interrelated themes, focusing on key aspects of language reflection during the period 1500-1800, with particular emphasis on the seventeenth century. German speakers are seen attempting to discover and define the nature of adjacent languages, whilst also shaping and demarcating the identity and image of their native tongue. The first essay outlines and illustrates what European linguists believed, in an age before the advent of comparative philology, about the historical-genetic position of German within the circle of Classical and modern European languages. Three further essays explore the surprisingly rich diversity of approach and method in earlier foreign-word purism, the puristic use of lexis and metaphor (with special reference to gender-specific imagery), and prominent reaction to the intrusive foreign word in German military usage. The last two essays span a wide range of attitudes and reaction to the French language among German speakers, and early German perceptions of that marginal (and in the popular view excessively contaminated) language, English. The work makes frequent reference to contemporary views of other languages, including Hebrew, Greek Latin, Italian and Spanish. Documented with much new material from about 300 original sources, these essays bring to light the ideas aired by many hitherto neglected personalities, whilst also deepening our understanding of better-known figures and their work.

Full Product Details

Author:   William Jervis Jones (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Publisher:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Imprint:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Volume:   89
Weight:   0.530kg
ISBN:  

9789027245779

ISBN 10:   9027245770
Pages:   299
Publication Date:   15 April 1999
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. 1. Konig Deutsch zu Abrahams Zeiten : Perceptions of the place of German in the family of languages from Aventinus to Zedler; 3. 2. Mit rainem teutschen lispeln : Attitudes to language among earlier German purists; 4. 3. Die Sohne wolten nicht der eignen Mutter schonen : Lexis and metaphor in the formation of German puristic discourse; 5. 4. Mit den Feinden Teutsch reden : Abraham Kolbinger of Augsburg and the purity of German military language; 6. 5. Franzosisch kauder-walsch macht unsre sprache falsch : Diagnoses of Gallomania; 7. 6. Spuma linguarum : On the status of English in German-speaking countries before 1700; 8. Conclusion; 9. References; 10. Index of personal names; 11. Index of subjects; 12. Index of words

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions