This German edition of the -Principes de linguistique theorique- by Gustave Guillaume (Quebec and Paris 1973) represents an initial attempt to facilitate access for German readers to the thinking of an early, lesser-known but important French structuralist. The volume gives a selection of texts from Guillaume's manuscript notes for his lecture courses at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. The texts are chosen for their accessibility and no prior knowledge of Guillaume's theories is required for their understanding. The -Principles- represent a panorama of far-reaching and frequently challenging ideas from one of the most creative linguists of the 20th century."