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  • Sprachgeschichte: Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschunged. by Werner Besch, Anne Betten, Oskar Reichmann, and Stefan Sonderegger
  • John M. Jeep
Sprachgeschichte: Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung, vols. 3 and 4. 2nd edn. Ed. by Werner Besch, Anne Betten, Oskar Reichmann, and Stefan Sonderegger. (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 2.3, 2.4.) Vol. 3: Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. Pp. xv, 2191–3001. ISBN 3110158833. $442.80 (Hb). Vol. 4: Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2004. Pp. xv, 3002–3734. ISBN 3110180413. $442.80 (Hb).

Following the first two volumes (1998, 2000; for reviews on these two volumes, see Language76.464–65 and 78.360) of a revised and expanded edition of Sprachgeschichte(the history of the [German] language; the first edition was published in two volumes, 1984–1985), these final two tomes complete an impressive undertaking: 227 richly documented, up-to-date essays, arranged in 21 sections, covering the field masterfully. Explicitly expressed in the title is the task of tracing both the linguistic history and the history of the research on the topics. As a result of this method of presentation, a clear picture of the history of the study of German emerges alongside reliable presentations on the complex and multifaceted history of the language and its speakers. Due to the encyclopedic structure of the work, the overall history of German—told here in four volumes totaling over 3,000 pages of double columns in large format—remains to be synthesized by its users. Future scholars attempting monographic coverage of any of the topics included will be well served to start here.

Vol. 3 contains three sections, the first two of which, as was the case with numerous sections in Vol. 2, present ‘results of research on the history of the language’ (my translation), including new articles such as those discussing the variants of German spoken in the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Nuremberg, and Vienna; other essays outline the history of proverbs and expressions (W olfgangM ieder), punctuation (F ranzS immler), and forms of addressing people, a subfield of linguistic pragmatics (W ernerB esch). A new section on the history of regional languages is most welcome, covering more than a dozen of the regional variants of German. S tefanS onderegger’s generously illustrated contribution on the history of Swiss German will set the standard for this area, as will the three articles by I ngoR eiffensteinand P eterW iesingerfor the Bavarian-Austrian dialect. Among the other regions covered are Westfalian (with only a brief mention of Masematte, an old local variant in Münster), Brandenburgian, Hessian, Franconian, and Alsace. As indicated above, the researchers intertwine the history of the perception of the regional dialects with the description of the relevant linguistic factors defining the variants.

Vol. 4 begins with an extensively revised section on the linguistic history of German literature, with seven contributions discussing the linguistic achievements of literary periods from the medieval to the present. Two sections (the first edition had only one) now deal with German in contact with other languages; an essay on Yiddish and German (U lrikeK iefer) was added for this revised and expanded edition, while the new second section deals with the many border areas surrounding the German-speaking area of Europe (Romance, Slavic, Hungarian, Scandinavian, Frisian, Low German). Given the recent evolution of European politics, these neighboring regions have in the past decades gained in recognition and importance within the broader context of European regional movements. Linguistic connections reflect and enhance cultural interaction, and, as in the case of a Dutch-German region, give rise to new terms, such as its chosen designation Euregio.

A very detailed index of topics, and a second one of personal names, aid the user tremendously. While some cross-references are included in the articles, the indices are the best way to track the various areas within which a subject is covered. Lacking is an index of maps and of diagrams, of which there are scores throughout these weighty volumes. No small amount of desk space is needed in negotiating the set. Since the...

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