Description

What this book oVers is an introduction to the description of the structureof present-day German in linguistic terms, i.e. according to the principles andpractices of modern linguistics. Exactly what this entails, and how such adescription diVers from those undertaken from other points of view, willbecome clear from the remaining chapters of the book, but the main themecan be brieXy stated as follows: German is here taken to be not a body of factsto be presented or learnt but rather the subject of scientiWc investigation.From this point of view, the ‘facts’ of the language cannot be merely assumed,but must be established and their status determined. In many cases the knowncharacteristics of German will serve merely as the starting point, rather thanas the goal, of our enquiry.