Despite German specialist texts in the fields of medicine, pharmacy and botany making up a considerable proportion of early printed texts, they have largely been ignored by linguistic research. Early scientific printed texts are of particular significance for text linguistics and pragmatics if sufficient attention is paidto their projected readership among non-specialists; in order to prepare specialist knowledge for the "common man" and enhance their visability in the market place, it was necessary to "package" the books effectively with regard to text, presentation 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 tests play an important part in the development of modern non-fiction.
Author Biography
The author is Professor of German Linguistics at the University of Erfurt.
