*This paper also serves as Paper 22 of the Linguistics Tripos
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Teaching and examining for the paper are suspended in 2024鈥25, but topics in German(ic) linguistics will continue to be available by Optional Dissertation.
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Students who are interested in taking a Part II paper which looks at the history of German in the context of the other Germanic languages can borrow Paper 11, 鈥楪ermanic Philology鈥 from the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Tripos. The paper is co-taught by Professor Richard Dance and Dr Sheila Watts and offers text classes in Gothic, Old High German, Old English and Old Norse alongside a core course in comparative historical linguistics. For a reading list see here: [add:听 ]
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This course explores the history and relationships of the Germanic languages, from their origins in Indo-European to the major early medieval textual evidence.听 By the end of the year, students should have acquired a detailed knowledge of the principal linguistic developments within the Germanic family as a whole, and become versed in the identification and discussion of features proper to the individual branches of Germanic, from amongst which they will have chosen particular languages in which to take a special interest.
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Candidates from MML will normally have taken one of the History of German papers (currently GE7 at Part IB).听
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More information is available on the course's Moodle page.
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Every student of German as a foreign language runs into questions which the language teacher can only answer by saying 'Because that's how it is'. Why is the plural of Tag Tage, while the plural of Nacht is 狈盲肠丑迟别 and the plural of Wort is 奥枚谤迟别谤? Why is the past tense of singen sang, when the past tense of bringen is brachte? If we compare German with English, how can we account for the correspondence we find in Pfeffer-pepper, Pfeife-pipe, Pfad-path, but not in Pilger-pilgrim or Partei-party? Why do some words which have the same form not have the same meaning, like weil and while or klein and clean? Why does German still have gender, when English does not? The only intellectually satisfying way to explore these issues is to look at the development of the German language in the past, considering both continuity 鈥 shared features between German and related languages 鈥 and variation and change. Drawing on data derived from a close analysis of texts from earlier periods and varieties of German, we can consider innovations like the role of Umlaut in phonology and morphology, the development of future marking and the fixing of the V2 word order pattern.
This paper may be taken as a follow-up to GE7, German: A Linguistic Introduction, or as a stand-alone paper. It will complement the borrowed Germanic Philology paper, the papers on the history of any of the other languages offered in the Faculty, or the general Historical Linguistics paper. It also gives an overview of German language through culture which would make it a good foil for any of the literary or historical papers in Part II German.
For students from other triposes who wish to take this paper, a good reading knowledge of German is required (at least AS-level or equivalent).
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The paper is structured around four thematic areas. In 2020-21, those themes will be distributed as follows:
Michaelmas Term
Morphosyntactic Change in the History of German
Old High German and Old Saxon
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Lent Term
Middle High German
Standardization, Purism and Sprachkritik since the 19th century
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1. Morphosyntactic Change in the History of German
The historical development of German grammar is outlined in a series of longitudinal studies looking at the whole span of the history of the language, supported with material available in digital corpora as well as print text collections. The key topics are auxiliaries and the rise of the two-verb phrase; the marking of number, gender and case in the noun phrase; negation, and V2 and the verbal brace. The reasons why German is generally less grammatically innnovative than related languages such as English and Dutch are explored, and there is an opportunity to look at closely related languages and dialects to see how some changes are favoured while others (such as the do-auxiliary) are not. This discussion dovetails with the overall topic of standardization which is a key element in topic areas 1 and 4. 听
Introductory reading
- Axel, Katrin (2007) Studies on Old High German Syntax. Left sentence periphery, verb placement and verb-second. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.
- Besch, Werner and Norbert Richard Wolf (2009) Geschichte der deutschen Sprache. L盲ngsschnitte 鈥 Zeitstufen 鈥 Linguistische Studien. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.
- J盲ger, Agnes (2008) History of German negation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.
- N眉bling, Damaris (2000) Prinzipien der Irregularisierung. Eine kontrastive Analyse von zehn Verben in zehn germanischen Sprachen. Niemeyer: T眉bingen.
- N眉bling, Damaris, Antje Dammel, Janet Duke and Renata Szczepaniak (2006)听 Historische Sprachwissenschaft des Deutschen. Eine Einf眉hrung in die Prinzipien des Sprachwandels. T眉bingen: Narr.
- Szczepaniak, Renata (2009) Grammatikalisierung im Deutschen. Eine Einf眉hrung. Narr: T眉bingen.
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2. Old High German and听Old Saxon
This module focuses on the earliest stage of German, considering the regional and temporal diversity of the period from 800- 1000. We look at the representation of key sound changes in the earliest forms of written German, at the contrast between inheritance and innovation in German morphology, and at the emergence of characteristic word order patterns. These phenomena are illustrated through data from a range of early texts, looking particularly at early religious texts which allow a comparison between different regions, including northern texts in Old Saxon. Text classes enable the study of longer texts in Old High German.
Introductory reading
- Bostock, J. Knight. 1976. A Handbook on Old High German Literature. Oxford: OUP.
- Braune, Wilhelm.1994. (17th ed.). Althochdeutsches Lesebuch. T眉bingen: Niemeyer.
- Braune, Wilhelm and Ingo Reiffenstein. 2004 (17th ed.). Althochdeutsche Grammatik 01. T眉bingen: Niemeyer.
- Fischer, Hanns. 1966. Schrifttafeln zum althochdeutschen Lesebuch. T眉bingen : Niemeyer. (S760.a.96.3 - order to West Room)
- Gerdes, Udo and Gerhard Spellerberg. 1972. Althochdeutsch - Mittelhochdeutsch. Grammatischer Grundkurs zur Einf眉hrung und Textlekt眉re. Frankfurt: Fischer.
- Meineke, Eckhard and Judith Schwerdt. 2001. Einf眉hrung in das Althochdeutsche. Paderborn: Sch枚ningh.
- Schrodt, Richard. 2004. Althochdeutsche Grammatik II. T眉bingen: Niemeyer.
- Sonderegger, Stefan. 1987. Althochdeutsche Sprache und Literatur. Berlin: de Gruyter.
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Set Texts for Old High German and Old Saxon
The following texts will be studied in detail, and passages for commentary will be set from them in the exam. The Freisinger Paternoster (Bavarian, 9th c.) and Weissenburger Katechismus, Pater noster section (South Rhenish Franconian 9th c.), both in Wilhelm Braune, Althochdeutsches Lesebuch T眉bingen: Niemeyer, pp 34鈥5 (any edition). Three versions of the story of the feeding of the five thousand.
- From Tatian, chapter 80, 1鈥8 , in: Tatian. Lateinisch und altdeutsch mit ausf眉hrlichem Glossar ed. Eduard Sievers (18922/1966) Paderborn: Sch枚ningh. (East Franconian 9th c.)
- From Otfrid, Book III, 6 from Otfrids Evangelienbuch (= Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 49), ed. Oskar Erdmann / Ludwig Wolff (19736) T眉bingen: Niemeyer. (South Rhenish Franconian 9th c.).
- From the H锚liand, ll. 2799鈥2874 from Heliand und Genesis (= Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 4), ed. Otto Behaghel Erdmann / Burkhard Taeger (19849) T眉bingen: Niemeyer. (Old Saxon 9th c.)
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3.听 Middle High German
In the period 1050-1350 the German language witnessed a vast expansion, geographically and functionally. Colonization of lands east of the Elbe resulted in a large increase of German-speaking territory; economic and social changes associated with a growing population encouraged the increased use of the written vernacular alongside Latin, and for a variety of uses. Although courtly romances and lyrics by authors such as Hartmann von Aue and Walther von der Vogelweide are nowadays the most widely known products of the explosion of written text-production in the Middle High German period, these literary texts represent only a small proportion of the total corpus, which covers religious writing, law and administration, and practical handbooks of all kinds. This module will examine important and often controversial aspects of Middle High German: the much-debated existence of a standard form of the written language; the phonological and morphological development of the language over time; regional varieties of written MHG.
Introductory reading
- 鈥淓inleitung鈥 in Hermann Paul, Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik, 25th edn, rev. by Thomas Klein, Hans-Joachim Solms and Klaus-Peter Wegera, with Syntax by Ingeborg Schr枚bler, rev. by Heinz-Peter Prell, T眉bingen 2007, pp. 1-33.
- R.E. Keller, The German language, London 1978, ch. 5 鈥淭he Hohenstaufen Flowering.鈥
- C.J. Wells, German. A linguistic history to 1945, Oxford 1987, ch. III鈥揑V.
- M.O鈥機. Walshe, A Middle High German Reader, Oxford 1972
Set texts for Middle High German
The following texts will be studied in detail, and passages for commentary will be set from them in the exam.
- From Williram von Ebersburg, Expositio in Cantica Canticorum, ed. Erminie Hollis Bartelmez, Philadelphia 1967, paragraphs 1G-25G.
- From Hartmann von Aue, Iwein, ed. G.F. Benecke and K. Lachmann, rev. L. Wolff , 6th edition, Berlin 1959, lines 543-672 (online ). The edited text will be compared with the equivalent lines in two of the principal manuscripts: (1) Universit盲tsbibliothek Heidelberg cpg 397, fols 7r-8v: Manuscript edition, by Evelyn Meyer, pp. 16-19 (online ); (2) Universit盲tsbibliothek Giessen, Ms 97, fols. 11r-13v (online ; a transcription will be provided)
- Legal deed, W眉rzburg, 3 December 1298, from Corpus der altdeutschen originalen Urkunden bis zum Jahr 1300, ed. Friedrich Wilhelm, 5 vols, Lahr 1932-1963, no. 3132.
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4. Standardization, Purism and Sprachkritik since the 19th century
The 19th century has long been neglected in German linguistic historiography as a consequence of the widely-held view that standardization had already been accomplished by the end of the 18th century, and that after the grammar of Gottsched and dictionary of Adelung, there was little left to be done. More recently, though, the concept of Sprachgeschichte von unten introduced by Stefan Elspa脽 has cast a new light on the linguistic and national debates of the 19th century, when industrialization, urbanization and the spread of literacy to all sectors of society created clashes over the role of the German language in the creation of a unified national identity. From the late 19th century to the present, the German language has at times become a political football, with a strong tradition of journalistic and academic Sprachkritik challenging the role of loanwords, changes in spelling, and prescription vs. description in the widest sense. We will focus on discourse about German as a standard language, though purism in lexicography from Campe to the Anglizismus-Index, notions of 鈥榗orrect spelling鈥 from the late nineteenth century to the present, and the current disaster鈥搉arrative of the position of German in globalization.
Introductory reading
- Davies, Winifred (2009) 'Standard German in the Nineteenth Century', in: Landmarks in the History of the German Language, ed. G. Horan, N. Langer and S.Watts. Bern, etc.: Peter Lang.
- Eichhoff-Cyrus, Karin and Rudolf Hoberg (eds.). 2000. Die deutsche Sprache zur Jahrtausendwende. Sprachkultur oder Sprachverfall? Mannheim, etc.: Dudenverlag.
- Elspa脽 S. (2005), Sprachgeschichte von unten. Untersuchung zum geschriebenen Alltagsdeutsch im 19 Jahrhundert, T眉bingen: Niemeyer.
- Gardt, Andreas and Bernd H眉ppauf (eds.) (2004) Globalization and the Future of German. Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.
- Johnson, Sally. 2005. Spelling trouble? Language, ideology and the reform of German orthography. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
- Limbach, Jutta. (2008) Hat Deutsch eine Zukunft? Unsere Sprache in der globalisierten Welt. Munich: C.H.Beck.
- Mattheier, K. J. (2000), 'Die Durchsetzung der deutschen Hochsprache im 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert: sprachgeographisch, sprachsoziologisch', in: Sprachgeschichte. Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung,, edited by W. Besch, A. Betten, O. Reichmann and S. Sonderegger, vol. 2.2, 2nd, completely revised ed., Berlin and New York: de Gruyter. 1951-66.
- Mattheier, K. J. (2003), 'German', in: Germanic Standardizations. Past to present, edited by A. Deumert, and W. Vandenbussche, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 211-44.
- Polenz, P. von (1999) Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Sp盲tmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Bd III: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Berlin and New York: de Gruyter.
- Sick, Bastian (2004 and later volumes). Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Ein Wegweiser durch den Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache. Hamburg/K枚ln: Spiegel Online and Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
- Wiese, Heike (2012). Kiezdeutsch: Ein neuer Dialekt entsteht. Beck.
See reading lists above.
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The teaching for this paper is delivered via a weekly lecture, supplemented with text classes for the Old and Middle High German modules. Supervisions are held fortnightly throughout the year.
For the GE8 Moodle site, please see 听(Raven password).
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Dr Sheila Watts |