Walter Heuer

Walter Heuer (born October 25, 1908 in Aegerten , Canton of Bern ; † September 7, 1977 in Küsnacht ZH ) was a Swiss proofreader and language tutor . As chief corrector of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and author of the book Richtiges Deutsch , he had a great influence on spelling , especially in German-speaking Switzerland .

Life

Walter Heuer was born on October 25, 1908 in Aegerten , in the Bernese Seeland . After an apprenticeship as a typesetter in Biel from 1924 to 1928 , he worked for the Luzerner Tagblatt and then as a proofreader at the Friedrich Reinhardt printing company in Basel . In 1939 he became chief proofreader at the Büchler book printing company in Bern . In Bern, he also worked as a teacher for specialist German in the typesetting classes at the trade school, as head of language training courses for assistants and as an expert in final apprenticeship exams. He was co-founder of the Swiss correspondence course for correctors.

On August 1, 1950, Heuer became the successor to Gottlieb Lehner, chief editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung . He further developed the correspondence course for correctors and helped it to achieve its high level of appreciation today. In 1960, Heuer published the language school for typesetters and proofreaders as well as a special edition intended for general use, Correct German - a language school for everyone . The book quickly became a success outside of the book printing industry; it was soon used as a teaching aid in vocational and middle schools. His instructions, originally directed only to his own editors and correspondents, first published as a Vademecum in 1971, were later published for a wider audience. Correct German was published in the 32nd edition in 2017, edited by Heuer's successor Max Flückiger and the reformer Peter Gallmann , and the 14th edition of the Vademecum 2014, edited by Flückiger's successor Stephan Dové. This year the NZZ also published glosses on linguistic topics that appeared as a book ( Deutsch unter der Lupe , 1972, and May one say so?, 1976).

Walter Heuer retired on December 31, 1973 and died on September 7, 1977 after a brief, serious illness.

Act

Through the wide distribution of his book Richtiges Deutsch , Walter Heuer had a lasting influence on grammar didactics, also outside of Switzerland. He also took a decided position on issues relating to the renewal of spelling.

This year was a staunch opponent of the so-called moderate lower case , which had always been a concern of reformers; he was also against the abolition of stretch marks and the forced Germanization of foreign words. As a critic of the too rigid stipulations in the Duden , he was well prepared for reforms. So he voted for the introduction of Heysean regulation of the ß (ß only after long vowels and diphthongs ), against the principle "in doubt small" in upper / lower case, against the spelling of words where it expresses no other term, and when three identical consonants coincide for the same rule as with three identical vowels (insert a hyphen: Schiff-Fahrt ). When separating words at the end of the line, he was in favor of separating st and vor ck (instead of separating in kk) and approving the separation according to spoken syllables (interest) in addition to the morphological separation ( interest ) . The spelling reform of 1996 adopted these suggestions as well as the spelling «exuberant» and «nightmare» which had become legendary in specialist circles as deviations from the Duden of the time.

On the other hand, Heuer emphasized that punctuation marks, namely the comma, serve as reading aids and legibility must remain the top priority of orthography, so the rules in this regard should not be simplified lightly.

Fonts

• Language school for typesetters and proofreaders. Book publisher of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1960.
• Correct German - A language school for everyone (special edition of the «Language school for typesetters and proofreaders»). Book publisher of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1960.
• Correct German. Complete grammar and spelling theory. 31st edition. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2014, edit. by Max Flückiger, Peter Gallmann, ISBN 978-3-03810-035-5 .
• Linguistic and technical vademecum for our editors, correspondents and employees. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1971; Vademecum - The linguistic and technical guide of the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. 14th edition. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-03823-903-1 .
• German under a magnifying glass. Book publisher of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1972.
• Can you say that? Book publisher of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1976.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Resignation of the chief corrector. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of December 31, 1973, Inland, p. 13.
2. ↑ Walter Heuer in memory. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 12, 1977, features section, p. 17.
3. ↑ Volker Brandt: Not only for Switzerland: the new edition of Heuer's "Correct German".  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: LinkedIn . 20th May 2017.  
4. ↑ In: Graphia 1956, On the dispute about our spelling , summarized by Peter Müller in: SOK , Questions and Answers: Walter Heuer - a Reformer? April 4, 2011.