LFU:online

Department of German Studies Department of German Studies

Dr. Konstantin Niehaus Dr. Konstantin Niehaus

608126

SE Contemporary German Language (Gr. B): Everyday German

SE 2

5

weekly

each semester

German

Ability to understand academic literature about enregisterment and to reflect relevant issues critically; competence to read topic-related scientific texts and analyse texts and utterances according to the methods of different linguistic disciplines; ability to write a term paper that meets academic standards

How one talks (or writes!) in everyday life differs from standard language as well as local dialects, depending on the region. This linguistic level „between“ standard and dialect – often neglected in traditional dialectology - is the seminar’s main concern.

A crucial question as to everyday language is its structural and theoretical status – if one thinks only of the flamboyant and notoriously oscure term „colloquial language“, which is often used synonymously, but also terms like „regiolect“ and „regional standard“ display certain similarities. Furthermore, the seminar will discuss by which methods everyday language should be scientifically investigated. The seminar will strongly focus on the factor ‚region‘: Using regional everyday language as an example, participants will practise their skills in sociolinguistic and dialectological methods.

Last but not least the seminar aims at a deeper understanding of how dialects became (or can become) regiolects over time, i.e. an understanding of the relationship between everyday language and dialect change and the importance of the history for today’s everyday German.

Presentations, reading tasks and discussions, exercises

Presentation, term paper

Eichhoff, Jürgen (1977ff.): Wortatlas der deutschen Umgangssprachen. Bd. I/II [1977/78] Bern: Francke; Bd. III [1993] München u. a.: Saur; Bd. IV [2000] Bern, München: Saur.

Elspaß, Stephan & Möller, Robert (2003ff.): Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache. URL: http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/.

Further references are to be announced in the seminar.

 

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