The chair examines German grammar and lexicology from various perspectives; examples are the development of morphological classes or the nature of ‘linking elements’ (such as the -s in Verwaltung-s-aufwand, cf. Kürschner 2010), the difference between common nouns and proper names (how Tempo became a name for tissues in German…), the formation of verbal brackets in German (sometimes known as “prongs” to students of German), and the characteristic structure of German texts. However, language is not an isolated system: it provides variable structures that can be used appropriately in different situations. Language is thus an important social tool that should be viewed from a usage-based perspective (pragmatics) – e.g. in conversation or in advertising language (see below) and through the cognitive modelling of linguistic and pragmatic competence.
Words on words (Worte über Wörter) not only describes a research focus of our Chair but also refers to our course offerings: We offer regular courses on all levels of language (e.g. sound and writing system, morphology and syntax). As part of the German teacher training curriculum, we offer a wide range of courses to prepare students for their state examinations (Staatsexamen) while at the same time providing them with insights into current linguistic research, and enabling them to formulate their own research questions and find their own answers.

German consists of a large network of varieties and styles, characterised by geographical (dialects), social (dialects vs. standard language, sociolects), contextual (styles, registers) and media-related differences (spoken/written/sign language). Even the most researched variety, the German standard language, is characterised by a number of differences within the German-speaking core area of Central Europe (in the narrower sense, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland) and shows variation within Germany, especially between northern and southern Germany.
At the Chair, we study German variation with a particular focus on the morphological systems of the dialects. Language variation also is the basis for ongoing language change, as examined in the history of the German language — from its earliest documented stage in Old High German to the contemporary language — while taking into account key theories of linguistic change. Another central focus of research and teaching therefore are phenomena of language change, with a special emphasis on morphological change.

In collaboration with Åbo Akademi in Turku, a Swedish-speaking university in Finland, we offer the MA programme Intercultural Advertising: Language, Media, Marketing (Werbung interkulturell: Sprache, Medien, Marketing). This interdisciplinary master's programme equips students with in-depth knowledge about the way advertising content is linguistically, visually and cinematically encoded, about the the social and cultural determinants of advertising communication, and about the field of international and intercultural marketing more generally speaking. Students examine ethical issues in advertising and acquire the skills to design and implement intercultural advertising strategies in hands-on projects (click here for the most recent image and advertising films produced by our students). A number of research-centered classes provide students with the skills of independent scientific inquiry and how to communicate research results in the above-mentioned fields in an academically appropriate manner. Our Master's programme also includes the acquisition of basic skills in Swedish and a year abroad in Turku, Finland.
Find out more about the programme, the modules and project workshops on the homepage of Werbung interkulturell: Sprache, Medien, Marketing (in German).

German is part of the Germanic language family – a group of European languages that all trace their origins back to the same historical language, Proto-Germanic. The characteristic features of German and its evolution stand out clearly when we compare it with its closely related neighbouring languages, such as the West Germanic languages Dutch, Luxembourgish and English, or the North Germanic languages (Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish). The comparison offers a way of learning about alternative paths of language change (see, for example, the contrastive study of plural allomorphy in ten Germanic languages in Dammel/Kürschner/Nübling 2010). The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Germanic Linguistics, currently being developed at the Chair of German Linguistics, among others, will provide an overview of comparative research on Germanic languages.
With help of historical documentation, some languages allow us to trace and compare their roots over a long period of time (e.g. Old Dutch, Old English, Old Norse or Old Saxon as precursors to Low German). The Academy project ‘RuneS: Runic Writing in the Germanic Languages’ at our Chair focuses on runic writing as the oldest writing system of the Germanic languages.
We also compare German with its neighbouring languages by addressing issues of mutual comprehensibility (i. e. impromptu comprehension without prior acquisition). Some of the research questions we ask are ‘How well do German speakers recognise Dutch and West Frisian words?’ or ‘How well do speakers of Dutch understand Standard or Low German’ (Gooskens/Kürschner/van Bezooijen 2011)?

All languages of the world come into contact with other languages. Language contact situations arise, for example, because most people are multilingual in many societies, or because certain languages enjoyed high prestige and were frequently used outside their area of origin. The German language shows, especially with its vocabulary, that it has been in intensive contact with other languages for centuries. There are, for example, numerous words of Latin, Greek and French origin in the German vocabulary, as well as words of English origin (currently, English is an important source of loanwords).
Speakers of German have not only come into contact with other languages within German-speaking Europe, but also when they settled in regions that were not (only) German-speaking. German can be found as a minority language in Italy, France, Belgium and Denmark, for example. There are also numerous German language islands in Southern and Eastern Europe, and emigration has also taken German speakers to South and North America and as far as Papua New Guinea and Australia. Some of these language islands are still active today. At the Chair, we focus on German in Southern Brazil as one of the most vital areas of German outside of Europe.
We also find traces of language contact in other, sometimes closely related languages. For example, there are numerous Low German (and also High German) loanwords in the mainland Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish), which can be traced back to intensive contact with Hanseatic merchants in the late Middle Ages. Until this day, these loans facilitate the access and acquisition of Scandinavian languages by German speakers (and vice versa).

Unsere Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen auf den Gebieten der Nominalmorphologie, der Variationslinguistik, der Verstehbarkeit nah verwandter Varietäten und der Onomastik.