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German Grammar in Four Volumes – from Georgian Author

26 May, 2013
German Grammar in Four Volumes is the first fundamental, academic grammar of modern German language designed for Georgian learners. The book is oriented to practical use of the language and aims at describing comprehensively the literary German language system and its functioning from both theoretical and practical points of view; revealing ellipse forms of the language, peripheral phenomena, exclusions and anomalies along with natural phenomena and perfect linguistic forms; analyzing linguistic phenomena based on the samples from written sources and verbal speeches, first and foremost from linguistic, but also from lingo-pragmatic positions, taking into consideration their communication implications, functioning in the text, stylistic manner and social marking,” reads the preface of the book that helps us create a certain imagination about the work, its conditions and parameters (volume 1850 pages). The author of the book is Dr. Marina (Marika) Andrazashvili, Professor at the Education-Scientific Institute of Western European Philology of the Faculty of Humanities at TSU.

The initial preparations over the first edition of the book were carried out in 1992-2003, when Marika Andrazashvili visited the Free University of Berlin, where she worked over the German and Dutch linguistics. The second edited and extended version was also prepared in Germany during the author’s creative trip to the German Institute of Linguistics in Mannheim in 2007-2009. All the expenses related to the creation of the both editions were defrayed by the German side. In particular, the Goethe Institute carried out the project preparation works, whereas its implementation was financed by the German Academic Exchange Service; German Catholic Academic Exchange Service; and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. It should be particularly noted that the above mentioned book in four volumes is the first work from Georgia, which (with its German manuscript) has been included in the permanent fund of the library of the Mannheim German Institute of Linguistics and has also been posted in an online catalogue.
The first volume of German Grammar (Morphology I) acquaints us with theoretical presuppositions of the work, methodological principles, basic principles, goals and purposes; as well as the structure of the work and an orientation group of the learners with relevant instructions about the use of the book. The linguistic preface briefly reviews the subject of grammar, its relation with the language, as a description object; determines the place of grammar among linguistic disciplines; explains the essence and functions of the language, distinguishes linguistic levels and their units; gives definitions of these basic terms, which create working units of the work. The key part of Volume I discusses verb, noun and article (as parts of speech) based on the formal-category, functional-semantic and syntactic parameters.
Volume II (Morphology II) presents the remaining parts of speech – adjective, numeral, pronoun, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection – according to their formation, structure, morphological characteristics and syntactic potential.
Volume III (Syntax I) is dedicated to a simple sentence. It discusses the structural, communication and formal types of a simple sentence; describes the ways of combination of words to receive syntagmas and sentences; introduces parts of a sentence and their structure in a sentence taking into consideration syntactic-structural and communication-pragmatic aspects; highlights the sense of thematic and rhematic organization in respect of text composition; introduces the rules of sentence modeling and sentence models specific for the German language; describes specific sentences structurally as well as in respect of text genres.
Volume IV (Syntax II) is about a complex sentence. Simultaneously with compound and complex sentences it also discusses compound-complex sentences – periods in terms of structural, as well as logical-semantic and communication purposes; discuses general (formal, topological, structural, logical-semantic) principles of classification of independent clauses; describes separate syntactic and semantic types of independent sentences.
Volume IV also includes a detailed scientific-technical bloc about the work, covering the afterward, united contents, bibliography and hierarchy structure (unusual for Georgian readers), as well as a glossary of words and terms (in the Georgian and German languages).
As the author of the above mentioned book notes, the work has been built on a classical grammar model. The following is named as its theoretical premises: valence theory, grammar of direct components, generative grammar, functional grammar, as well as logical syntax and content-oriented grammar. To provide access to various linguistic phenomena, modern research methods have been used in the book (substitution, permutation, transformation, paradigm restoration, as well as the tests of semic-component analysis, semantic selection, paraphrasing, etc.). Through a morphosyntax form of delivering the material, the author manages to submit linguistic phenomena to the readers simultaneously in paradigmatic and syntagmatic dimensions; a descriptive nature of composing the work is largely determined by prescriptive/normative principles so that to enable a language learner to separate correct/acceptable/desirable language forms from incorrect and less desirable ones, realize their stylistic status and use them in a text properly.
From methodological point of view, the work is based on the principles of contrast linguistics, particularly on the linguistic interference and transference moments identified during the comparison research of Georgian and German languages; but because of certain assumptions, it deliberately avoids parallel description of linguistic phenomena. Instead of it, based on the practical linguistic experience gained by the learners while studying the languages at schools (Georgian, Russian, English, French), it prognosticates and diagnoses possible mistakes in a Georgian language auditorium and finds the practical ways of their overcoming.   
German Grammar in Four Volumes is already a novelty for the readers, because no similarly perfect work has been conducted previously, especially as the book has been created on the basis of the modern achievements of contemporary German linguistics. The innovative nature of the work is also determined by its methodological basis, i.e. building it on the principles of contrast linguistics taking into consideration the interference and transference moments. Another novelty of the book is that as a rule, many issues (such as characteristic of different sentences in respect of text genres; identifying the semantic-stylistic nuances of particles and interjections taking into account the spheres of their intersection, etc) are described in similar grammar books designed for foreigners inexplicitly, if not neglected at all.    
The work also offers the first-ever Georgian equivalents to the terms defining German linguistic phenomena. Previously, German studies in Georgia used description forms to present them. And it has been done not at the expense of direct translation into Georgian, but mostly based on the references.    
The form of placing illustration materials by blocs and delivering information by difficulty progression is also quite a new thing, as well as the thematic-genre diversity (in order to increase motivation for the readers) and informative fullness in respect of the realities in the German-language world.
The book, owing to its functional importance – monographic and guidance nature – can be used by the researchers working over the theoretical aspects of the language as well as by those persons, who want to improve their German grammar skills. The students from the faculty of German studies are discussed as a direct target group. However, the book can also be used by the students of other faculties at any level of studies, as well as by translators-interpreters and any adults interested in improving their language skills.

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