Modern German Grammar
Modern German Grammar

Author: Ruth Whittle

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-03-01

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 1136835539

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Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Third Edition is an innovative reference guide to German, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume. The Grammar is divided into two parts. Part A covers grammatical categories such as word order, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Part B is organised according to language functions and notions such as: making introductions asking for something to be done delivering a speech possibility satisfaction. The book addresses learners’ practical needs and presents grammar in both a traditional and a communicative setting. New to this edition, and building on feedback from the previous edition: The rules of the latest (and so far final) spelling reform have been implemented throughout. Examples of usage have been updated and consideration given to Swiss and Austrian variants. The chapter on register has been expanded and now includes youth language and frequently used Anglicisms in German. The Index now has even more key words; it has also been redesigned to differentiate between German words, grammar terms, and functions, thus making it more user-friendly. The Grammar assumes no previous grammatical training and is intended for all those who have a basic knowledge of German, from intermediate learners in schools and adult education to undergraduates taking German as a major or minor part of their studies. The Grammar is accompanied by a third edition of Modern German Grammar Workbook (ISBN 978-0-415-56725-1) which features exercises and activities directly linked to the Grammar. Ruth Whittle is Lecturer, John Klapper is Professor of Foreign Language Pedagogy, Katharina Glöckel is the Austrian Lektorin and Bill Dodd is Professor of Modern German Studies – all at the University of Birmingham. Christine Eckhard-Black is Tutor and Advisor in German at the Oxford University Language Centre.

The Acquisition of German
The Acquisition of German

Author: Anne Vainikka

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-10-27

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 311026384X

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The Acquisition of German: Introducing Organic Grammar brings together work on the acquisition of German from over four decades of child L1 and immigrant L2 learner studies. The book’s major feature is new longitudinal data from three secondary school students who began an exchange year in Germany with no German knowledge and attained fluency. Their naturalistic acquisition process — with a succession of stages described for the first time in L2 acquisition — is highly similar to that of younger learners. This has important implications for German teaching and for the theory of Universal Grammar and acquisition. Organic Grammar, a variant of generative syntax, is offered as a practical alternative to Chomsky’s Minimalism. The analysis focuses on extensive monthly samples of the three students’ German development in an input-rich environment. Similar to previous studies, the teenagers build syntactic structure from the bottom up. Two acquired correct word order by the end of the year, the third, who had greater conscious awareness of German grammar, had a divergent route of development, suggesting that language awareness can alter a natural developmental path. The results are addressed in light of recent debates in child-adult differences.