Grundständige Studiengänge (Bachelor, ...)

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

This course offers an introduction to Middle English (ME), which is the historical variety of English spoken and written between c. 1150 and c. 1500 CE, with a clear focus on the language of Geoffrey Chaucer (late 14th century).

We will read and translate selected texts written by Geoffrey Chaucer and illustrate the linguistic characteristics of Chaucer's ME on the levels of spelling and pronunciation, grammar (inflection and syntax), lexis, discourse and style. Sound changes like the Great Vowel Shift and general grammatical and lexical changes will be treated within their sociocultural context.

The main coursebook is: Horobin, Simon (2013). Chaucer's language (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.

Beschreiben Sie kurz und prägnant, worum es in diesem Kurs geht.

Present-day linguistics very often makes use of empirical methods and approaches to language description, investigating real-life speech and writing rather than relying on intuition and introspection. Especially quantitative approaches have been on the rise in recent decades. 

After a more general introduction to the nature of linguistic data and basics of data analysis, this course will focus on specific methodological issues such as questionnaire design and coding, or corpus-linguistic and discourse-analytic methods and tools.

Students are expected to work on their own projects. 

When several Germanic tribes relocated from the European Continent to the British Isles around 450 CE, they (naturally) brought with them their Germanic dialects. The first written documents of this language, known today as Old English (OE), date back to c. 700 CE.

Using a varied selection of Old English texts, we will trace back the development of the English language to its historical roots, paying particular attention to the spelling, pronunciation, morphology, syntax and lexis of the language in its "purely Germanic" form before the Norman Conquest. The aim is to be able to read and understand OE prose texts with the help of a glossary. We will also have a brief look at Old Norse, a related language that was spoken by invaders from Scandinavia and that began to mix with Old English. Side issues that will be addressed include: The style of OE poetry, reading OE manuscripts, the runic alphabet, the role of Latin in the OE period, and OE in modern popular culture.

The main course book is Baker (2012).

This course is designed to introduce the English language of c. 1500 – 1700 CE, the period in which writers like William Shakespeare, John Donne and John Milton wrote their works, and the influential "King James" Bible translation was made. It is also the period of the beginnings of the standardization of the English language.

Particular attention will be paid to the spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology and syntax of what contemporaries called the General Dialect, but also to variation across time, region and according to register and social conditions. Illustrative texts will be taken mainly from dramas, poetry, personal letters, and courtroom records.

The main course book is Nevalainen (2006).