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Instructors: Dr. Markus Freudinger; Charlotte Anna Hahn; Dagmar Keatinge; Prof. Dr. Christian Langstrof; Dr. Anke Lenzing
Event type:
Seminar
Org-unit: Anglistik/Amerikanistik
Displayed in timetable as:
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 100
Requirements and recommendations:
In order to attend this course, you MUST have passed the Introduction to Linguistics.
Literature:
A list with selected readings will be provided in the first session.
Comment:
Pragmatics
This course we will look at the main concepts of pragmatics.
Pragmatics studies the meaning of utterances in their linguistic and situational/social context. The central topics are the concepts of meaning and the semantics/pragmatics distinction, deixis, speech acts, conversational maxims, and the information structure of discourse.
We will look at and analyse different texts as well as audio and video material to get an understanding of the main theories and concepts of pragmatics.
As this course is part of the module "Methodische Grundlagen", it will also contain certain general academic skills beyond the scope of this specific seminar, such as basic and advanced search for literature, the OED, time management, and form of citation.
Contrastive Linguistics
Contrastive Linguistics traditionally refers to the systematic comparison of two languages with the aim of describing their similarities and differences.
Given that English and German are historically closely related, the two languages are in many cases surprisingly different. Topics discussed in class include, among others, phonology, morphology, tense and aspect, word order as well as contrasts in the lexicon. Beyond the description of similarities and differences between the languages, we will take into account their consequences on e.g. foreign language learning and teaching.
As this course is part of the module "Methodische Grundlagen", it will also contain certain general academic skills beyond the scope of this specific seminar, such as basic and advanced search for literature, the OED, time management, and form of citation.
Introduction to Sociolinguistics
The seminar provides an introduction to the linguistic field of sociolinguistics, which focuses on the relationship between language and society. We will explore language use in different social and cultural contexts and investigate the potential impact of social variables such as gender, age, social class, ethnicity or occupation on variation in language use. The seminar engages with issues such as the how people speak in different contexts and with different interlocutors, attitudes towards different dialects, code-switching in bilingual contexts, and differences in the ways women and men use language.
Non – standard varieties of English in Britain and the US
„Where’s me bait, I’m clammin‘ “ is what a speaker of Geordie, the variety of English spoken in the Tyneside/Newcastle area in North Eastern England, would say when being really hungry and asking for food. Geordie is just one example of the many varieties of English that are spoken all over the world and have little in common with what non- native speakers often perceive as proto- typical or ‘correct’ English. In fact, the majority of native English speakers speak a dialect or variety that differs from Standard British and American English to some extent. In this course, we will examine the development and linguistic features of different socio- dialects such as Cockney (London area), African- American Vernacular, or Geordie in contrast to the Standard varieties.
As this course is part of the module "Methodische Grundlagen", it will also contain certain general academic skills beyond the scope of this specific seminar, including basic and advanced search for literature, linguistic data bases, time management, and forms of citation.
Analysing the sounds of English
This class familiarises students with a range of analytical tools in order to analyse variation across accents of English. Apart from providing a recapitulation of the basics of English phonetics and phonology, the first thematic block consists of an introduction to both auditory analysis and acoustic analysis of speech sounds using PRAAT. Subsequently, participants will be familiarised with a broad range of Englishes from various parts of the world and will eventually be able to identify and analyse differences between varieties both auditorily and by means of acoustic analysis.
Furthermore, students will be familiarised with basic methods in quantitiative data analysis.
Note: Students will be required to bring laptop computers to at least some of the sessions!
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