Unit name | Advances in Historical Linguistics |
---|---|
Unit code | GERM32052 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Langer |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of German |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will focus on recent development in historical linguistics research. Precise topics will change from year to year but a detailed outline will be advertised in the spring before the unit is run. Particular attention will be paid to the field of historical sociolinguistics and its application to the history of German.
In this course we will focus on a particular area of German linguistics, e.g. multilingualism in certain regions, language standardisation, historical orality, text-type dependent variation, linguistic purism, and language historiography. Primarily focussing on sociolinguistic developments, students will gain a detailed understanding of the processes of speaker- and society-induced language change, the role of language in shaping societies, and the mechanism of linguistics.
Successful students will:
Two seminar hours per week across one teaching block (22 contact hours).
2 essays 3000 words each 50%/50%
Students are advised to have constant access to a good Sprachgeschichte des Deutschen, e.g.
Ernst, Peter. 2005. Deutsche Sprachgeschichte. UTB.
Horan, Geraldine et al. (eds.). 2009. Landmarks in the History of German. Oxford: Peter Lang.