Module Identifier |
GE30420 |
Module Title |
LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY IN GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES |
Academic Year |
2007/2008 |
Co-ordinator |
Dr Winifred V Davies |
Semester |
Semester 2 |
Course delivery |
Seminars / Tutorials | |
|
Lecture | 20 hours in all |
Assessment |
Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
Semester Assessment | Presentation: (seminar presentation) | 20% |
Semester Assessment | Continuous Assessment: 4,000 word essay | 80% |
Supplementary Exam | 1 x 2 hour examination if continuous assessment submitted. 1 x 3 hour examination if no continuous assessment submitted. | 100% |
|
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
By the end of this course students will be familiar with some major themes in contemporary German sociolinguistics. They will be familiar with theoretical and methodological aspects of the discipline and will have learnt to assess critically research carried out in the German-speaking countries in terms of methodology and theoretical underpinning. They will have learnt to carry out independent empirical research, to analyse data, to construct an argument, and to express themselves in a suitable register. The oral presentation fosters team-skills and oral expression.
Brief description
The module examines the interrelations between language and society in the German-speaking countries, providing a thorough grounding in the sociolinguistics of these countries and highlighting the contrast between contemporary and traditional approaches to the study of variation in German. Through a study of a selection of major topics in contemporary German sociolinguistics, students will be introduced to and encouraged to assess critically research carried out in the German-speaking countries. They will also, where necessary, be required to familiarise themselves with the work of sociolinguists from outside the German-speaking tradition where these have contributed to the development of sociolinguistic theory in the German-speaking countries.
Content
The following topics will be covered:
1. Earlier approaches to variation: the aims and concerns of the dialectological school compared with the aims and concerns of modern sociolinguistics; a critical comparison of dialectological and sociolinguistic methodology. Background reading: Barbour & Stevenson (1990), 18-21, 55-74; Chambers, J.K. & Trudgill, P. (1980), Dialectology, Chapter 2.
2. Characteristics of the development of a standard language: how 'natural' is the development? Selection, acceptance, elaboration of function, codification. Development of the German standard language. Background reading: Barbour & Stevenson (1990), 45-53; Keller (1978), 485-509; LGL, Chapter 35; Sauer & Glueck, in Stevenson (1995), Chapter 4.
3. Maintenance of the standard: prescription, linguistic criticism, Sprachkritik, complaint tradition, attitudes towards non-standard usage. Background reading: Braun (1987), 228f; Guenther (1988); Hass (1988); Milroy & Milroy (1985), 2.2.
4. Pluricentricity: how many national varieties of German are/were there? Linguistic and political criteria for pluricentric status of a language; evaluation of these criteria. Arguments for the pluricentric status of German (cf. Clyne (1995), Chapter 1) and against (cf. Fox (1990), 288-93).
5. Linguistic characteristics and social status of the German standard language as used in Austria, the FRG, the former GDR and Switzerland; diglossia in Switzerland. Background reading: LGL, Chapters 58, 59; Clyne (1995), Chapters 1, 2, 3; Russ (1994), Chapters 3, 4, 5; Fasold, R., (1984), The Sociolinguistics of Society, Chapter 2.
6. Language and ideology: What is the relationship between language and reality? Sexism in German. Background reading: Townson (1992), Chapter 4; Hellinger, in Stevenson (1995), Chapter 12; Pusch (1984), 46-68, 76-108.
Note: Students should keep up with the background reading, topic by topic.
Reading Lists
Books
** Supplementary Text
Ahrends, Martin Allseitig gefestigt
DTV
Aitchison, Jean Linguistics
edition 5r.e.. Teach Yourself Books 0340737336
Althaus, Hans Peter Lexikon der germanistischen Linguistik
Niemeyer
Ammon, Ulrich Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Osterreich und der Schweiz
de Gruyter 311014753X
Barbour, Stephen & Stevenson, Patrick Variation in German
Camb.U.P. 0521357047
Bauer, Dirk Das sprachliche Ost-West-Problem
P Lang
Bausinger, Hermann Deutsch fur Deutsche
Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 359626491X
Bigler-Marschall, Ingrid Unser Wortschatz
Verlagsinstitut fr Lehrmittel 325202201X
Born, Joachim Deutsch als Verkehrssprache in Europa
W. de Gruyter 3110140063
Braun, Peter Tendenzen in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache
Kohlhammer
Clyne, Michael G. German Language in a Changing Europe
edition 2r.e.of. Camb.U.P. 0521499704
Clyne, Michael G. Language and Society in the German-speaking Countries
Camb.U.P. 0521276977
Coulmas, Florian Zur Sociolinguistik des Deutschen
Mouton de Gruyter
Debus, Friedhelm Sprachliche Normen und Normierungsfolgen in der DDR
G. Olms
Duden, Konrad Der grosse Duden
Bibliographisches Institut
Durrell, Martin Using German
Camb.U.P. 0521315565
Fleischer, Wolfgang Kleine Enzyklopdie deutsche Sprache
VEB Bibliographisches Institut
Fox, Anthony Structure of German
Oxf.U.P. 0198158211
Gluck, Helmut Gegenwartsdeutsch
J.B.Metzler
Haas, William Standard languages
Manchester University Press 0389202916
Hacki Buhofer, Annelies Wie deutschschweizer Kinder Hochdeutsch lernen
Steiner 351507239X
Hartig, Matthias Soziolinguistik
Peter Lang
Keller, Rudolf Ernest German language
Faber and Faber
Kloss, Heinz Die Entwicklung neuer germanischer Kultursprachen seit 1800
Schwann
Konig, Werner DTV-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache
Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag
Lehnert, Martin Anglo-Amerikanisches im Sprachgebrauch der DDR
Akademie-Verlag
Loffler, Heinrich Germanistische Soziolinguistik
E. Schmidt 3503037004
Lotscher, Andreas Schweizerdeutsch
Huber Frauenfeld
Milroy, James Authority in Language
edition 3r.e.of. Routledge 0415174139
Muhr, Rudolf Internationale Arbeiten zum osterreichischen Deutsch und seinen nachbarsprachlichen Bezugen
Verlag Holder-Pichler-Tempsky 3209016747
Pollak, Wolfgang Was halten die Osterreicher von ihrem Deutsch?
OGS/ISSS 3900494169
Rash, Felicity J. German Language in Switzerland
Peter Lang 3906757684
Reiher, Ruth Wer spricht das wahre Deutsch?
Aufbau Taschenbuch 3746680042
Russ, Charles V. J. Sprache Kultur Nation
German Dept., University of Hull 0859587525
Russ, Charles V. J. Sprache und Gesellschaft in deutsch-sprachigen Landern
Goethe-Institut
Schlosser, Horst Dieter Die deutsche Sprache in der DDR zwischen Stalinismus und Demokratie
Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik
Schneider, Hansjakob Hochdeutsch : das kann ich auch
Peter Lang
Schroeter, Sabina Die Sprache der DDR im Spiegel ihrer Literatur
Walter de Gruyter
Schwitalla, Johannes Gesprochenes Deutsch
E. Schmidt 3503037802
Stevenson, Patrick German-speaking World
Routledge 0415129850
Stevenson, Patrick The German Language and the Real World
edition n.e.. Oxf.U.P. 0198237383
Stickel, Gerhard Deutsche Gegenwartssprache
Walter de Gruyter 3110124467
Stickel, Gerhard Varietaten des Deutschen
W. de Gruyter 3110156873
Wells, C.J. German
Oxf.U.P. 0198157959
Web Page/Sites
Deutsche Sprache http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=deutsche+sprache&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
Jahrbuch fr internationale Germanistik http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=jahrbuch+fur+internationale&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
Muttersprache http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=muttersprache&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
New German Studies http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=new+german+studies&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
Sprachreport http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=sprachreport&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
Zeitschrift fr germanistische Linguistik http://www.degruyter.de/rs/384_412_DEU_h.htm
Zeitschrift fur Dialektologie und Linguistik http://copac.ac.uk/copac/
Zeitschrift fur Germanistik http://voyager.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=zeitschrift+fur+germanistik&SL=None&Search_Code=JALL&CNT=20
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6