Despite German specialist texts in the fields of medicine, pharmacy and botany making up a considerable proportion of early printed texts, they have been largely ignored by linguistic research. Early scientific printed texts are of particular significance for text linguistics and pragmatics if sufficient attention is paid to their projected reader-ship among non-specialists; in order to prepare specialist knowledge for the 'common man' and enhance their viability in the market place, it was necessary to 'package' the books effectively with regard to presentation, text and style. Numerous texts have been analysed to trace the wide range of techniques used to propagate knowledge in the vernacular and to consider the extent to which they depend on Latin models from Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The strategies deployed to popularise the contents and optimise the texts play an important part in the development of modern non-fiction.

Autorentext

The author is Professor of German Linguistics at the University of Erfurt.