Linguistics

English Linguistics deals with the structure and use of the English language at all major levels of description: text/discourse, sentences, words, sounds. After becoming familiar with the most important concepts and methods for describing linguistic form and function in the first year of study, students have the chance to specialize in a number of subjects. There is a broad selection of advanced seminars to choose from. In addition to courses dealing with selected aspects of English grammar (e.g. morphology, complex sentences, non-canonical constructions), students are introduced to different approaches to the analysis and explanation of linguistic phenomena, e.g. the study of English in comparison to other languages (language typology and contrastive linguistics), the relationship between language and cognition, processes and theories of first and second language acquisition, to name just a few topics. We aim at combining the foundations of English linguistics with results of recent research and up-to-date methodology, such as quantitative methods for research into language acquisition and language change.

Linguistics at this department is represented by Prof. Holger Diessel de (Chair Language and Cognition), Prof. Volker GastExternal link (Chair Language and Communication), their research assistants, as well as PD Dr. Florian Haas de.