Seit langem besteht in der Fremdsprachendidaktik Übereinkunft darüber, dass durch einen umfassenden Vergleich von Muttersprache und zu erlernender Fremdsprache verbesserte Grundlagen für den Fremdsprachenunterricht und das Studium einer Fremdsprache geschaffen werden können. Der wichtigste Teil dieses Programms der kontrastiven Linguistik, nämlich das Erstellen von umfassenden, detaillierten Bestandsaufnahmen der wesentlichen Kontraste zwischen zwei Sprachen, ihrer Zusammenhänge und ihrer Erklärungen, wurde lange Zeit nicht realisiert. Das vorliegende Buch schließt diese Lücke, indem es einen feinkörnigen Sprachvergleich des Deutschen und Englischen vorlegt, der auf zahlreichen kontrastiven Untersuchungen der Autoren, auf der einschlägigen Literatur zu den beiden Sprachen und auf den verfügbaren sprachtypologischen Einsichten aufbaut. Die 4. Auflage wurde im Anfangs- und im Schlusskapitel um einige relevante Einsichten neuerer Literatur erweitert. Taking up some of the goals of the Contrastive Program formulated in the sixties and seventies of the last century, this book presents a comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of the major contrasts between German and English with the aim of showing how far the two closely related languages have moved apart and of providing new foundations for the study and the teaching of English from the perspective of German and the study of German from the perspective of English. It is based on numerous contrastive studies published by the authors and on a thorough exploration of the relevant literature on the two languages and on language typology in general. Parsimonious in its use of complex technical jargon, the book can be used both for the relevant B.A. modules and the relevant M.A. modules, as well as for more general courses on Comparative Linguistics and Contrastive Analysis. The fourth edition has added further elaborations of the introductory and final chapters on the basis of recent contributions.

The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. The series considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.

The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. The series considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.