Grimm Language
Grammar, Gender and Genuineness in the Fairy Tales
1st Edition
Published on 29. April 2010
XI, 190 pages
978-90-272-8822-6 (ISBN)
Description
Grimm Language addresses a number of issues in the Grimms' fairy tales from a (Germanic) linguist's point of view. In sections dealing with the Grimms' use of regional dialect material, various grammatical constructions, and specific nouns and adjectives in their Children's and Household Tales, the author argues that the Grimms were consciously or unconsciously following a number of objectives. These included reinforcing the overall Germanic impression of the tales (though we now know that many of them had French inspiration), striking the right balance between archaic and colloquial language to arrive at an ideal narrative style for what was arguably a new genre, and promoting or at least reflecting stereotypes concerning the proper roles for boys and girls. The book will be of interest not only to those interested in fairy tales, and the Grimms' in particular, but also more generally to those interested in the intersection between linguistics and literary scholarship.
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04/2010
John Benjamins Publishing Co
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Content
- Grimm Language
- Editorial page
- Title page
- LCC data
- Dedication
- Table of contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1. A linguistic look at the children's and household tales
- 2. The Six Swans
- 3. German from where?
- 3.1 Linguistic authenticity in the KHM
- 3.2 Tales told in dialec
- 3.3 Dialect insertions in the tales
- 3.4 The challenges of verse
- 3.5 "Hänsel and Gretel:" An inside joke?
- 3.6 The Grimms' use of regional German
- 4. Possession
- 4.1 Archaisms, colloquial speech and grammaticality judgments in the KHM
- 4.2 Possessive noun phrases
- 5. Forms of address
- 5.1 Historical outline
- 5.2 Usage in the KHM
- 5.3 Idiosyncratic or general?
- 5.4 Concluding remarks on address
- 6. Reports and omissions
- 6.1 Indirect Discourse
- 6.2 Auxiliary deletion
- 6.3 Verbs and colloquiality
- 7. Nouns (and their adjectives)
- 7.1 Nouns for girls
- 7.2 Nouns for boys
- 7.3 Noun-use summary
- 7.4 Adjectival properties of the nouns
- 7.5 Grimm stereotyping - a first take
- 8. Appearance
- 8.1 Beauty
- 8.2 Color terms
- 8.3 Books and covers in the KHM
- 9. Moral states and mental dispositions
- 9.1 fromm ('pious') and gottlos ('godless')
- 9.2 rein ('pure/clean')
- 9.3 gut ('good')
- 9.4 böse ('bad/wicked/evil')
- 9.5 stolz ('proud')
- 9.6 Concluding remarks on inner qualities and dispositions
- 10. Industry and intelligence
- 10.1 fleißig ('industrious')
- 10.2 arbeitsam ('hard-working')
- 10.3 faul ('lazy')
- 10.4 - klug ('clever')
- 10.5 gescheit ('bright')
- 10.6 listig ('cunning')
- 10.7 weise ('wise')
- 10.8 dumm ('dumb')
- 10.9 Attributes of the Grimm heroine and hero
- 11. Gender and the use of pronouns
- 11.1 Pronoun/noun correspondences
- 11.2 Exceptions to gender concord
- 11.3 Age, sex, goodness
- 11.4 Setting priorities
- 11.5 Choice and style in the Grimms' pronominal usage
- 11.6 The Grimms and other tale tellers
- 11.7 Final comments on pronoun use
- 12. Concluding remarks
- References
- Appendix A. Tales cited from the KHM, with translations and numbers in the 7th edition of 1857
- Index
- The series Linguistic Approaches to Literature
