The nature and virtues of the German language in the Bavarian periodical ‘Parnassus boicus’ (1722–1740)
A close analysis of the Bavarian periodical Parnassus Boicus (1722–1740) discloses several aspects of interest to the linguistic historian. Besides a polemical and proto-nationalistic view of German as a language for heroes, the editors defended, against the French-oriented critical stance à la Gottsched which was-beginning to have the upper hand, a marked sympathy for periodic syntax, which they claimed as most natural to German, as well as a strong preference for the chancery style.