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General Linguistics and Linguistic Diversity

In the English-only specialisation General Linguistics and Linguistic Diversity, the students learn about Structures, Variation and Change in the World's LanguagesLinguistic Typology and Cross-Linguistic Diversity are central topics in this specialisation. During the programme students also take a look at Endangered Languages and get introduced to Intercultural Communication. In addition, Research perspectives on Cross-Linguistic Diversity and Typology are offered. 

Structures in the World's Languages and Endangered Languages Variation and Change in the Languages of the World Linguistic Typology and Cross-Linguistic Diversity Intercultural Communication Research Perspectives on Cross-Linguistic Diversity and Typology

 

In the module Structures in the World’s Languages and Endangered Languages the students acquire a broad and detailed overview of the variation space in the languages of the world, in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and/or lexicology. Special emphasis lies on endangered languages and languages spoken outside of Europe. The students receive training in methodological skills of language description and analysis, and learn about theoretical perspectives on universality, diversity and fieldwork linguistics.

The module Variation and Change in the Languages of the World introduces the students to socio-linguistic variation in the languages of the world, and how this variation relates to dynamics of change. The focus of this module is on disentangling what is universal and what is language-particular. The students receive training in collecting and evaluating evidence of linguistic variation and change, working with grammatical descriptions and other resources including primary linguistic data and typological data bases.

The focus of the module Linguistic Typology and Cross-Linguistic Diversity is a detailed overview of the major grammatical patterns in the languages of the world, equipping the students with the fundamental skills to understand and analyze data of languages hitherto unknown to them. The students will learn about theoretical approaches to linguistic universality and diversity, and about types of linguistic evidence used to support particular analyses or frameworks.

In the module Intercultural Communication the students acquire skills in intercultural communication, exploring the linguistic (verbal and non-verbal) variation space in domains such as speech act analysis, politeness research, or communication in the private and public sphere. Students will be introduced to intercultural semantics and pragmatics in a variety of theoretical frameworks. The students learn to work with case studies from around the world, involving speakers of diverse languages.

Project seminars in the module Research Perspectives on Cross-Linguistic Diversity and Typology offer students the opportunity to work independently and empirically on a topic from the research area of the seminar or from the research area of the course instructor. Under the guidance of the instructor, the students design a research project, i.e. they develop suitable research questions, the study design, data collection/selection and analysis, and select suitable empirical research methods. The students carry out the project independently. This gives students early insights into independent, scientific work.