Looking at some details of Reuther's work

Abstract

The surviving work of J. G. Reuther fills 13 volumes and is an easy target for comments about Germans’ meticulous attention to detail (see Lucas and Deane, Chapter 4, this volume, for details). A single word in Reuther’s 4,035-word Diyari dictionary may have well over 30, and in a few cases even over 60, illustrative sentences. These sentences are important not only for their anthropological content, but also linguistically: they contain special idioms and turns of phrase that are characteristic for a whole area. The richness of detail is characteristic of his massive work, compiled at the Lutheran mission at Killalpaninna.