Unit name | Linguistic Variation and Change in German |
---|---|
Unit code | GERM30060 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Havinga |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of German |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit focuses on language variation and change in German. After an introduction to sociolinguistic theories on this topic, ways of studying language variation and change will be explored, focusing on corpus linguistics. Students will learn how to compile their own data, how to work with existing German corpora, and how to use text analytic software (AntConc and SketchEngine) to investigate the data for diachronic, regional, and/or social variation. Starting from examples of language change from canonical textbook literature, students will learn to carry out their own linguistic analyses, encouraging them to challenge common language ideologies. No specialised computing knowledge is required for students of this unit.
Aims:
By the end of the unit, successful students will have:
Two seminar hours per week across one teaching block (22 contact hours).
One 3000-word essay (50%) and one project-based assignment (50%), each testing ILOs (1)-(5).
Holmes, Janet and Kirk Hazen (eds). 2014. Research Methods in Sociolinguistics'. A Practical Guide. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Nübling, Damaris, Antje Dammel, Janet Duke, and Renata Szczepaniak. 2013. Historische Sprachwissenschaft des Deutschen. Eine Einführung in die Prinzipien des Sprachwandels. 4. Aufl. Tübingen: Narr.
Rasinger, Sebastian. 2008. Quantitative Research in Linguistics. An Introduction. London: Continuum.
Salmons, Joseph. 2012. A History of German. What the past reveals about today’s language. Oxford. OUP.
Weisser, Martin. 2016. Practical Corpus Linguistics. An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.