German

Language has always been a major marker of cultural identity in the German-speaking world, and the reunification of Germany, with its dramatic political and cultural consequences, has led to an upsurge of interest in contemporary German. In this collection of essays, German linguists consider a wide range of topics, including language change, language in political discourse, language in Berlin after the wall, language and gender, the speech styles of youth subcultures, and language and television.

The German Language Today sets out to show the linguistic variety that exists within the German speech community as well as describing the main systematic linguistic features of the language. In it, Charles Russ covers most of the factors which produce competing forms in German, and describes the sounds, inflectional processes, syntactic structures and different layers of words in language. He seeks to give recognition to the fact that languages are changing. The German Language Today is detailed in its coverage of both sociolinguistic and linguistic topics, use of illustrative texts and examples, and the application of modern linguistic concepts to German coverage.

Often underestimated, lyric diction is a portal to powerful performance. It is through lyric diction that singers are able to communicate the wishes and desires of the poet, as well as the composer. Amanda Johnston takes a modernized approach in English and German Diction for Singers, making German increasingly accessible through the recognition that English and German are related languages, and thus have many things in common with regard to lyric diction. This comprehensive resource includes a thorough analysis of the German and English languages, as well as lists, tables, charts, musical examples, and even tongue twisters.

Thousands of years ago, seafront clans in Denmark began speaking the earliest form of Germanic language--the first of six "signal events" that Ruth Sanders highlights in this marvelous history of the German language. Blending linguistic, anthropological, and historical research, Sanders presents a brilliant biography of the language as it evolved across the millennia. She sheds light on the influence of such events as the bloody three-day Battle of Kalkriese, which permanently halted the incursion of both the Romans and the Latin language into northern Europe, and the publication of Martin Luther's German Bible translation, a "People's" Bible which in effect forged from a dozen spoken dialects a single German language. The narrative ranges through the turbulent Middle Ages, the spread of the printing press, the formation of the nineteenth-century German Empire which united the German-speaking territories north of the Alps, and Germany's twentieth-century military and cultural horrors. The book also covers topics such as the Gothic language (now extinct), the vast expansion of Germanic tribes during the Roman era, the role of the Vikings in spreading the Norse language, the branching off of Yiddish, the lasting impact of the Thirty Years War on the German psyche, the revolution of 1848, and much more. Ranging from prehistoric times to modern, post-war Germany, this engaging volume offers a fascinating account of the evolution of a major European language as well as a unique look at the history of the German people.