Contrastive Linguistics: English-German Contrasts - Einzelansicht

By comparing two languages with each other one can gain a better understanding of each one of the languages under comparison. This is one of the main objectives of contrastive linguistics. In this course, we will carry out a detailed comparison of English and German, focusing on those aspects of analysis that reveal interesting differences between the two languages: Phonology, inflectional morphology, tense and aspect, grammatical relations, word order, active vs. passive voice and non-finite subordination. We will also find that many of the contrasts seem to be connected to each other. For example, rich inflectional morphology in German goes together with flexible word order and semantically constrained grammatical relations, whereas English displays the opposite tendency of reduced inflectional morphology, fixed word order and grammatical relations that can express almost any semantic role.

Apart from students with a more theoretical interest, the course also addresses students who want to improve their structural knowledge of English and know more about difficulties for learners of both languages under consideration. The course is therefore highly recommended to students of 'Englisch Lehramt'. The focus is going to be on comparing grammatical structures and not on didactic issues, however.

The book chapters we will read presuppose basic knowledge of English grammar, phonetics and linguistic terminology, as it was introduced in the Introduction to Linguistics (I + II).

Gast, Volker (2012). 'Contrastive analysis: Theories and methods'. In Kortmann, B. (ed.): Dictionaries of Linguistics and Communication Science: Linguistic theory and methodology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Hawkins, John A. (1986). A Comparative Typology of English and German: Unifying the Contrasts. London/Sydney: Croom Helm.

König, Ekkehard & Volker Gast (2018). Understanding English-German Contrasts. 4th ed. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. [You can also use the 3rd edition]

Update 4th April: In view of the current situation, most or all of the teaching will be online. Please wait for further instructions via email. We assume that exams will take place as announced. The first date for the written test may be moved to the first week of the lecture-free period, however.

Assessment: Written test or term paper (your choice)

Term paper deadlines: 30th September (1st attempt) + 13th November (2nd attempt)

Written test dates: 16th July (1st attempt) + 17th September (2nd attempt)

This course requires very good knowledge of German

Admitted students not attending the first session will be replaced by students who have been waitlisted.

State examination: Please ask me for manual admission if you want to attend this course as a 'Vorbereitungsmodul'. Register via the module catalogue, and NOT via VVZ, and then write me an email! The number of places for the written and oral state examination is limited. Registration is only possible via manual admission before the start of the lecture period, and only if you are not at the same time enrolled for another linguistic Vorbereitungsmodul.

Lehramt Gymnasium: Im aktuellen Flyer (Stand 09/2019, erhältlich auf Wordwise: "Infos zum Studium") finden Sie die aktualisierte Festlegung der Themengebiete für die schriftliche und für die mündliche Prüfung im Bereich Sprachwissenschaft.

Lehramt Regelschule: Im aktuellen Flyer (Stand 10/2019, erhältlich auf Wordwise: "Infos zum Studium") finden Sie die aktualisierte Festlegung der Themengebiete für die schriftliche und für die mündliche Prüfung im Bereich Sprachwissenschaft. Beachten Sie, dass der zweite sprachwissenschaftliche Themenbereich in der schriftlichen Prüfung "Phonetics" und in der mündlichen Prüfung "Phonetics" oder auf Wunsch "Introduction to Linguistics I" ist.