A structural history of the German language

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This book is the culmination of nearly fifty years of teaching the history of the German language, tracing its development from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) around 3000 BC to the present. It targets German language learners, native speakers, and linguistics students unfamiliar with the language. The content is organized into eleven chapters across four major sections. Part I, Preliminaries, includes Chapter 1, which outlines synchronic and diachronic methodology, and Chapter 2, providing an overview of major Indo-European language families and the evolution of Germanic languages, including Proto-Germanic (PGmc), Northwest Germanic (NWGmc), Old High German (OHG), Middle High German (MHG), and Modern High German (NHG). Part II, Historical Phonology, features Chapter 3 on phonological changes from PIE to PGmc., Chapter 4 from PGmc. to OHG, Chapter 5 from OHG to MHG, and Chapter 6 from MHG to NHG. Part III, Historical Morphology, includes Chapter 7 on changes in nouns, adjectives, numerals, and pronouns, and Chapter 8 on verbs. Part IV, Historical Syntax and Semantics, covers Chapter 9 on derivation and compounding changes, Chapter 10 on syntactic changes, and Chapter 11 on semantic shifts. Each chapter concludes with exercises and an answer key. ISBN 9783862885251. LINCOM Coursebooks in Linguistics 21. 434pp. 2014.