A Grammar of Proto-Germanic
ENThis grammar of Proto-Germanic is designed to provide a comprehensive but concise treatment of the language from approximately 2500 B.C. to the beginning of our era. All linguistic components are taken into consideration. The pragmatic component is dealt with in the Introduction, and to some extent in chapter six (on semantics and culture), in which the semantic component is the major topic; chapters two to five treat the grammatical component, with separate chapters devoted to phonology, inflectional morphology, derivational morphology, and syntax. Discussion of details, as of special forms of words, is kept to a minimum on the grounds that these are better presented in etymological and other dictionaries, or in editions of texts. Similarly, only major or distinctive works on the grammar are listed. Treated since the early days of historical linguistics in the early nineteenth century, as by Jacob Grimm in four large volumes, a full bibliography is enormous; it can be accessed through bibliographic journals like those of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft or the Modern Language Association as well as the International Linguistic Bibliography.
