Description: A revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universit'at von Kalifornien, Berkeley, 1986.
Review Quotes: «Sigrid Painter's study helps fill an extremely important gap in linguistic research, that of interpreting European orthographies in recent history. It introduces the reader to the 'modus operandi' of four Early New High German authors, showing how they extrapolate sound from symbol, their attention to the details of acoustics, and their keen observations of the physiology of speech. Her data hold a key to the answer of the birth of the New High German language.» (Irmengard Rauch, University of California, Berkeley)
«All the handbooks on the history of the German language have ignored the important evidence for the pronunciation of German during the Early New High German period provided by the descriptions of the 16th century 'Lesemeister'. Dr. Painter fills here a significant gap by her lucid account.» (Herbert Penzl, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley)
«...(es) ist eine in ihren dokumentatorischen Teilen ansprechende Arbeit entstanden, die Einblicke in die Schreib- und Lautverhältnisse einzelner Dialektlandschaften des 16. Jahrhunderts erlaubt.» (Peter Ernst, Wien, Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik)
«Le résultat est une phonologie détaillée des divers dialects fnhd. et une description des réalisations phonétiques associées. La méthode est suivie avec rigueur et permet de compléter notre connaissance de la phonétique du fnhd.» (Y. Desportes, Études Germaniques)