Marc Pierce

DESCRIPTION

This seminar will provide students with an overview of the emergence and development of the German language. A wide range of topics and issues in the history of German will be considered, progressing from Old High German (including the emergence of umlaut and the Second Sound Shift) through Middle High German (most prominently changes in the vowel system and the inflectional system) and Early New High German (especially the further erosion of the inflectional system and changes in the verbal system), and concluding with ongoing changes in the modern language (including the introduction of new vocabulary triggered by contact with English and various semantic changes).  Some cultural topics (e.g. the change from a largely preliterate society to a largely literate one, urbanization, and the impact of Christianity on the German language) will also be considered.  In addition to the history of German, this course will introduce students to the basic principles of historical linguistics, including models of how languages change (Neogrammarian, Structuralist, generative) and how linguistic changes spread geographically and socially (lexical diffusion, Labovian models)   

TEXTS/READINGS

-Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics

-Joseph Salmons, A History of German: What the Past Reveals about Today's Language

-various other readings will be made available on Blackboard.

REQUIREMENTS/GRADING

Participation:              25%

Midterm paper:          25%

Final paper:                 50%

Participation:

Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering my questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is mandatory. 

Midterm paper:

Students will be required to write a brief midterm paper (circa 5 pp.).

Final paper:

Students will be required to write a final paper (15-20 pp.) on a topic of their choice and to give a brief in-class presentation on their topic. 

Course description:

This course gives students a thorough overview of the structure of the German language.  The course begins with a brief introduction to the historical background of the German language, before proceeding to the structure of the German language, including phonology, morphology, and syntax. While various theoretical frameworks will be discussed, the primary focus will be on the data itself.  Important current issues, such as the relative status of standard and non-standard varieties of German, and oral vs. written usage, will also be discussed.  Previous coursework in linguistics is helpful, but not required.  The course will be taught in English.

Course goals: 

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1.         Analyze and discover the organizing principles of German sounds, words, sentences, and dialects.

2.         Relate acquired linguistic knowledge to everyday language use.

3.         Understand how German differs from English and why

Prerequisite:

Six semester hours of upper-division coursework in German, or fourteen hours of coursework in German and six hours of coursework in linguistics

Required text:

Sally Johnson, Exploring the German Language [available at the University Co-Op]

Additional texts will be posted on Blackboard and/or distributed by the instructor.

Instructor:                 Marc Pierce

E-mail:                       mpierc@austin.utexas.edu (usually the best way to contact me)

Phone:                        232-6360 (office), 471-4123 (Germanic Department)

Grading scheme:

Tests:                          60%

Homework:                 20%

Class participation:     20%

Tests:

There will be three testsin class over the course of the semester.  They will invite your comments on readings and discussions, and may be written in either English or German.  The third test will be given on the last day of class.  The instructor also reserves the right to give short quizzes, both announced and unannounced, about the material we have read and discussed.

Homework:

There will be ten short homework assignments over the course of the semester, due dates TBA.  There are also exercises in the Johnson book, which are not required (although you may certainly do them, if you would like).    Please hand in your homework by the due date.  All assignments must be handed in on paper; electronic versions will not be accepted. 

Participation:

Participation includes attendance, asking and answering questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is crucial.  Unexcused absences will result in poor grades for participation.  Absences will be unexcused except in cases of documented emergency (normally medical or family).  You will need to sign in at the beginning of each class.  Please notify me as soon as possible by e-mail or phone if it is necessary for you to be absent from class.  In accordance with UT policy, you may be excused from class to participate in religious observances and official obligations like club or varsity sports.  In such cases, written documentation must be presented to the instructor at least one week before the absence takes place.

This course focuses on Gothic, the oldest well-attested Germanic language, which is best preserved in a partial 4th century translation of the Bible.  Gothic is primarily of interest to linguists (Germanic, general, and Indo-European), as it exhibits a rich array of important linguistic phenomena which are either unattested (reduplication, the 4th class of weak verbs) or less strongly attested (Sievers’ Law) in the other Germanic languages.  This course therefore introduces students to the Gothic language, and helps them to familiarize themselves with relevant previous scholarship.  Readings and translations will be coordinated with an overview of Gothic grammar.  Class time will be devoted to translation and to discussion of grammatical, lexical, and cultural topics.  Assignments will consist of readings and translations, short quizzes, a short paper, and a final paper.

Readings

William Bennett, An Introduction to the Gothic Language

Other readings will be distributed by the instructor and/or made available on Blackboard.

Grading

20% Participation

10% Quizzes

20% Short paper

50% Term paper

Participation: Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is mandatory. 

Quizzes: There will be several short quizzes on Gothic grammar and translation, given at regular intervals.  The lowest quiz grade will be dropped.

Midterm paper: Students will be required to write a brief midterm paper (circa 5 pp.), involving a close reading, discussion of a tricky passage, or a research topic.

Final paper: Students will be required to write a final paper (15-20 pp.) on a topic of their choice and to give a brief in-class presentation on their topic. 

Description:

This class provides an overview of language, language evolution, and sociolinguistics, within the particular context of the history of German. The goal is to enlarge participants’ understanding and appreciation of German, its historical and dialectal development, and the rich ways speakers of German express meaning.  The course will begin with a discussion of German’s Indo-European origins, and progress from there through Germanic, West Germanic, Old, Middle, and Early New High German to the modern language.  The class will also examine examples from a broad range of Germanic languages, social and regional dialects, and pidgins and creoles, with an eye to developing a better understanding of the characteristics, origins and development of language and communication systems.  Other topics discussed in class will include the social roles of dialect as a divider and a unifier, Gastarbeiterdeutsch, the effects of TV and other forms of mass media on language, language acquisition, and language contact. 

No prior training in linguistics is required.  The course will be conducted in English.

Required texts:

A course packet will be made available, containing excerpts from the following sources (among others): Fortson, Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, Robinson, Old English and its Closest Relatives, the OSU Language Files, Stevenson, The German-Speaking World, and Clyne, The German Language in a Changing Europe.

Homework and assignments:

Essays, written exercises, participation, term paper

Grading scheme:

Essays:        25%

Written exercises:    25%

Final paper:        25%

Participation:        25%

Course Description:
German 328 is designed to help you refine your command and understanding of German grammar.  The course focuses primarily on formal accuracy, but class activities will include communicative applications of grammatical points.  German 328 is not a course in composition, conversation, or stylistics, although there are elements of such courses in German 328.  (The department offers other courses dedicated to these topics.)  You must have completed second year German here at UT or have earned credit for second year German through a placement exam, AP exam, or transfer credit to enroll in German 328.

Texts/Readings:
-Frank E. Donahue, Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik (required)
-A German-English dictionary of your choice

Grading/Requirements:
Tests (4 x 20%):     80%
Participation:         20%

Tests:
Four tests will be given over the course of the semester.  Tests typically cover four or more chapters of the textbook and consist of items similar to those on the homework assignments and in-class exercises.  Each test is worth 20% of your semester grade. Because the tests are increasingly cumulative, there is no final exam in this class.

Participation:
Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is crucial.  Unexcused absences will result in poor grades for participation!  Please notify the instructor as soon as possible if it is necessary for you to be absent from class.  In accordance with UT policy, you may be excused from class to participate in religious observances and official obligations like club or varsity sports.  In such cases, written documentation must be presented to the instructor at least one week before the absence takes place.

Description

This seminar will provide students with an overview of the emergence and development of the German language. A wide range of topics and issues in the history of German will be considered, progressing from Old High German (including the emergence of umlaut and the Second Sound Shift) through Middle High German (most prominently changes in the vowel system and the inflectional system) and Early New High German (especially the further erosion of the inflectional system and changes in the verbal system), and concluding with ongoing changes in the modern language (including the introduction of new vocabulary triggered by contact with English and various semantic changes).  Some cultural topics (e.g. the change from a largely preliterate society to a largely literate one, urbanization, and the impact of Christianity on the German language) will also be considered.  In addition to the history of German, this course will introduce students to the basic principles of historical linguistics, including models of how languages change (Neogrammarian, Structuralist, generative) and how linguistic changes spread geographically and socially (lexical diffusion, Labovian models)  

Texts

- Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction

- Joseph C. Salmons, A History of German: What the Past reveals about today's Language

- Other readings will be posted on Blackboard and/or made available by the instructor.

Grading

Participation: 25%

Midterm paper: 25%

Final paper: 50%

Participation: Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is mandatory. 

Midterm paper: Students will be required to write a brief midterm paper (circa 5 pp.).  

Final paper: Students will be required to write a final paper (15-20 pp.) on a topic of their choice and to give a brief in-class presentation on their topic. 

Course Description:
German 328 is designed to help you refine your command and understanding of German grammar.  The course focuses primarily on formal accuracy, but class activities will include communicative applications of grammatical points.  German 328 is not a course in composition, conversation, or stylistics, although there are elements of such courses in German 328.  (The department offers other courses dedicated to these topics.)  You must have completed second year German here at UT or have earned credit for second year German through a placement exam, AP exam, or transfer credit to enroll in German 328.

Texts/Readings:
-Frank E. Donahue, Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik (required)
-A German-English dictionary of your choice

Grading/Requirements:
Tests (4 x 20%):     80%
Participation:         20%

Tests:
Four tests will be given over the course of the semester.  Tests typically cover four or more chapters of the textbook and consist of items similar to those on the homework assignments and in-class exercises.  Each test is worth 20% of your semester grade. Because the tests are increasingly cumulative, there is no final exam in this class.

Participation:
Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is crucial.  Unexcused absences will result in poor grades for participation!  Please notify the instructor as soon as possible if it is necessary for you to be absent from class.  In accordance with UT policy, you may be excused from class to participate in religious observances and official obligations like club or varsity sports.  In such cases, written documentation must be presented to the instructor at least one week before the absence takes place.

This course discusses some of the major works of linguistic theory published in the last two centuries, with an eye to understanding how these works have shaped the field of linguistics and contributed to current theoretical developments.  Major topics of discussion will include social vs. individual aspects of language, synchrony vs. diachrony, and structuralist vs generative theories.  After an introduction to the field of linguistic historiography, we shall examine Sir William Jones’ famous discourse on the languages of India, and then turn to some of the major works of nineteenth-century linguistics, by authors like Rasmus Rask, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Franz Bopp, and William Dwight Whitney, in order to understand the impact of such scholars on the emerging field of linguistics.  We shall then turn to the twentieth century, beginning with Ferdinand de Saussure, and progressing to American structuralists like Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield, and Benjamin Lee Whorf.  The final section of the course will deal with more recent developments, with special emphasis on the growth and spread of transformational grammar and sociolinguistics; in this portion of the course, we shall discuss works by Noam Chomsky, Morris Halle, Roman Jakobson, William Labov, and others.

Requirements include attendance and participation, an oral presentation, a midterm essay, and a term paper.  All readings will be in English.

TEXTS

Paul, Principles of the History of Language [excerpts]

de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics [excerpts]

Sapir, Language [excerpts]

Bloomfield, Language [excerpts]

Chomsky, Syntactic Structures [excerpts]

Hans Aarsleff, “The History of Linguistics and Professor Chomsky”

Elisabeth Closs [Traugott], “Diachronic Syntax and Generative Grammar”

Morris Halle, “Phonology in Generative Grammar”

Roman Jakobson, “Principles of Historical Phonology”

Konrad Koerner, “Practicing Linguistic Historiography”

William Labov, “On the Social Motivation of a Sound Change”

Herbert Penzl, “Phonetic and Phonemic Change”

W. Freeman Twaddell, “A Note on Old High German Umlaut”

Benjamin Lee Whorf, “Grammatical Categories”

GRADING

Participation:                        25%

Midterm essay:            25%

Term paper:                        50%

This course focuses on one of the most popular works of German literature, the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm.  After a biographical introduction and a brief discussion of the Grimms’ contributions to various scholarly fields, we will spend the bulk of the semester reading and discussing tales from the Grimms’ collection, as well as some of the relevant secondary literature on the tales.  We will address questions like the following: In what cultural context did Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collect their fairy tales?  Who did they get the tales from?  Do the tales really reflect Germanic culture, or have they been revised in line with the Grimms’ personal beliefs?  Do the tales advocate any specific values (“the moral of the story is…”)?  We will also look at possible interpretations of the tales from different theoretical perspectives (feminist, psychoanalytic, etc.).  Knowledge of German is not required, as all readings and discussions are in English.  However, if you do know German, I strongly encourage you to read at least some of the tales in German. 

Required Texts:

Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, expanded 2d ed.

Jack Zipes, The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, 2d ed.

Jack Zipes (editor and translator), The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

[These texts are available at the University Co-Op.]

Additional texts may be distributed as necessary by the instructor.

Grading scheme:

Papers:    20%

Tests:      50%

Attendance and Participation:    20%

Description:

This course focuses on Old High German (OHG), which was spoken between roughly 750 and 1050.  OHG is of interest to students of both linguistics and literature, thanks to the various important linguistic developments it exhibits (e.g. umlaut, the Second Consonant Shift) and the rich array of OHG literature, including texts like the OHG Charms, the Hildebrandslied, and Otfrid’s Evangelienbuch.  This course therefore introduces students to OHG language, literature, and culture, and helps them to familiarize themselves with relevant previous scholarship.  Readings and translations will be coordinated with an overview of OHG grammar; linguistic comparison with Modern German will enhance the development of translation skills.  We will read a representative selection from various genres of OHG literature.  Class time will be devoted to translation and to discussion of grammatical, lexical, literary, and cultural topics.  Assignments will consist of readings and translations, short quizzes, a short paper, and a final paper.

Texts:

Charles C. Barber, An Old High German Reader

There will also be a coursepack with readings on various topics.

Course requirements and grading:

Participation:            20%

Quizzes:            10%

Short paper:            20%

Term paper:            50%

Participation:

Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering my questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is mandatory. 

Quizzes:

There will be several short quizzes on OHG grammar and translations.

Midterm paper:

Students will be required to write a brief midterm paper (circa 5 pp.), involving a close reading, discussion of a tricky passage, or a research topic.

Final paper:

Students will be required to write a final paper (15-20 pp.) on a topic of their choice and to give a brief in-class presentation on their topic. 

Course Description:
German 328 is designed to help you refine your command and understanding of German grammar.  The course focuses primarily on formal accuracy, but class activities will include communicative applications of grammatical points.  German 328 is not a course in composition, conversation, or stylistics, although there are elements of such courses in German 328.  (The department offers other courses dedicated to these topics.)  You must have completed fourth semester German here at UT or have earned credit for fourth semester German to enroll in German 328. 

Texts/Readings:
-Frank E. Donahue, Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik (required)
-A German-English dictionary of your choice

Grading/Requirements:
Tests (4 x 20%):     80%
Participation:         20%

Tests:
Four tests will be given over the course of the semester.  Tests typically cover four or more chapters of the textbook and consist of items similar to those on the homework assignments and in-class exercises.  Each test is worth 20% of your semester grade. Because the tests are increasingly cumulative, there is no final exam in this class. 

Participation:
Participation includes attendance, asking questions, answering my questions, and taking part in class discussions.  Attendance is crucial.  Unexcused absences will result in poor grades for participation!  Please notify me as soon as possible if it is necessary for you to be absent from class.  In accordance with UT policy, you may be excused from class to participate in religious observances and official obligations like club or varsity sports.  In such cases, written documentation must be presented to the instructor at least one week before the absence takes place.

Course Description

This course provides an extensive insight into German language variation, covering regional, ethnic, and social differences. We will start our course with a short overview of the history of the German language in order to understand the historic roots of the present-day varieties of German. From there we will investigate the status of different German language within Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg, as well as German language varieties overseas such as German in the Americas, in Australia, and in Namibia. In this connection, we will consider cases in which German has been in contact with other languages, such as French, Danish, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, English and Spanish.

We will see how differences in linguistic behavior are given social and cultural significance and will discuss the question of the socio-economic status of “standard” German and its relation to other non-standard varieties. The differences in language use in former East and West Germany will form the center of our investigation of how social and political changes can bring about linguistic change. We will see how people change their linguistic and cultural behavior once they are confronted with a different political culture that employs different terminology. This will form the basis for our discussion of “Gastarbeiterdeutsch” (foreign worker’s German) which is at the center of ongoing research on pidginization.

The last part of the course is concerned with language planning and language reform. After a short overview of the German legal and educational system we will discuss the political issues surrounding the “Rechtschreibreform” (reform of German orthography). We will focus on the linguistic, political, and cultural issues involved and will see whether the goals set out by the reform have been successfully met.

This course is taught in German.

Prerequisite: Three semester hours of upper-division course-work in German with a grade of C or better.

Required Text

Barbour, S. and Stevenson, P. 1998. Variation im Deutschen: Soziolinguistische Perspektiven, Berlin / New York, de Gruyter.

Class reader on reserve.


Testing and Evaluation


A.  Midterm exam 30%

B.  Final exam 40%

C. Short quizzes 10%. 

D. Class participation 10%.

E. Homework 10%.

Grading:     A: 90+        B: 80-89      C: 70-79       D: 60-69        F: 59 or less

Description:
This course focuses on one of the most popular works of German literature, the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm.  After a biographical introduction and a brief discussion of the Grimms’ contributions to various scholarly fields, we will spend the bulk of the semester reading and discussing tales from the Grimms’ collection, as well as some of the relevant secondary literature on the tales.  We will address questions like the following: In what cultural context did Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collect their fairy tales?  Who did they get the tales from?  Do the tales really reflect Germanic culture, or have they been revised in line with the Grimms’ personal beliefs?  Do the tales advocate any specific values (“the moral of the story is…”)?  We will also look at possible interpretations of the tales from different theoretical perspectives (feminist, psychoanalytic, etc.).  Knowledge of German is not required, as all readings and discussions are in English.  However, if you do know German, I strongly encourage you to read at least some of the tales in German. 


Required Texts:
Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, expanded 2d ed.
Jack Zipes, The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, 2d ed.
Jack Zipes (editor and translator), The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
[These texts are available at the University Co-Op.]
Additional texts may be distributed as necessary by the instructor.


Grading scheme:
Papers:                20%
Tests:                50%
Attendance and Participation:    20%

see attached file

see attached file