Linguistics and German

Since linguistics is the study of language, in general terms, a knowledge of linguistics is extremely useful when studying any particular language. To begin with, learning any language involves learning how to pronounce the sounds of the language, what the words of the language mean and how to put those words together to form sentences - what we normally call grammar.

All languages are different and so no matter what your mother tongue is you will have to learn the new ways of building meaningful utterances in your new language. But as different as languages can be, there are some universal features - properties shared by all languages. It is these universal properties of language, and the ways in which different languages manifest these universals, that is the core of the study of linguistics. Linguistics gives you a background against which you can compare the language(s) you already speak fluently, and the new language you are learning. Let's look at an example:

This example shows us that German and English both make use of auxiliary verbs, use articles, adjectives and nouns, and sentences have subjects, direct and indirect objects. But the order in which these elements go together is subtly different in the two languages.

Understanding the fundamental properties of language - the things all languages need to be able to do - helps to put the grammar of a language in context. It helps you capitalise on what you already know in your native language, and helps you better understand the things which are difficult to learn in the new language. Of course German and English are in fact very closely related languages, sharing a common ancestor. But while this means that English speaking learners of German can take some advantage of the similarities between the two languages, they must also be wary of assuming too much similarity.

But a language is more than its history, and learning a language is more than just learning collections of rules of grammar. You need to understand how language is used within the cultural context of its speakers - how to make use of the stylistic variation that all languages have, when and how to be polite. Sociolinguistics is the study of the social context of language; how speakers make use of the resources of their language to define themselves, how language can serve as an emblem of identity, and how class, ethnicity and gender affect language use and language history. For language learners, this general knowledge can help in understanding how the speakers of the language understand its role in their lives.

For more information about courses between linguistics and German, send an email to the Linguistics Office or contact the Discipline Chair by phone or email.