On the realization of the standard language vowel sound changes in the Early New High German in the text of the official reports’ entries from Sibiu (Hermannstadt) (1560-1565)

The article presents the results of the phonemic-graphemic analysis of the official reports’ entries from the early second half of the 16th century, which come from the town council of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and the Concilium Transylvania Saxonicum. The reports constitute a part of the first liber civitatis of Sibiu (Hermannstadt). The aim of the paper is to answer the question how far the script fixes the features of the spoken language. Due to the analysis it could be unambiguously proved, the German used in the text corresponds to the level of development of the German language within the periodization of history of the language as it contains the standard Early New High German features as well as the dialectal structures and the sound changes, which are characteristic for the Silesian dialect. The text can therefore be classified as one of the linguistic monuments of the East Central German of Silesian tradition. All the results of the exploration are supported with the appropriate examples.