Einführung in die Phonetik und Phonologie des Deutschen, by Thomas Becker, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2012.

As clearly stated in the introduction of this book, it is an introductory textbook aimed at students of German, specifically at students who are not set out to be linguists. It wants to get across the essentials, the basics of the sound structure of German (p. 7). However, the introduction also mentions that this book is suited for linguists and also for university teachers, as the presentation of the content “weicht…in einigen Punkten von den üblichen Darstellungen ab” [deviates at several points from more usual presentations]. Book review. The aim of this book is to show that “die Lautstrukturen des Deutschen einfacher sind, als sie üblicherweise gesehen und dargestellt werden” [the phonological structures of German are simpler as they are usually seen and portrayed]. I show that both of these statements make this book unique and almost revolutionary among modern textbooks.