Universität Wien

120226 SE MA Seminar - Focus: Historical / Linguistics Seminar (2019W)

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 18 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Please note that the semester schedule for this course includes a seminar conference to be held with Prof. Seidlhofer’s MA seminar, on a Friday (ca. 14.00-20.00) and Saturday (9.00-16.00) in December, or right after Christmas break in January. In exchange for time spent at the seminar conference a number of regular seminar sessions will not be held.
Important: Full participation in this seminar conference is essential, so please bear this in mind when registering for the seminar.

  • Monday 07.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 14.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 21.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 28.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 04.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 11.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 18.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 25.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 02.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 09.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 16.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 13.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 20.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A
  • Monday 27.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Seminarraum 6 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-22.A

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Variation and change in English, and what, if anything, it is good for

In this seminar, we develop and discuss possible explanations of variation and change in English. We shall deal with various types of linguistic constituents, such as sounds and sound patterns, inflections, syntactic constructions, words, idiomatic expressions, as well as linguistic meaning. The central question that we shall focus on is why variation and change occur at all. For that purpose we shall deal with hypotheses that explain language variation and change in terms of (changing) needs of speakers, with hypotheses that explain change as reflecting constraints on the human language acquisition device, and with hypotheses that assume languages to have lives of their own and explain language change in terms of the evolutionary fitness of linguistic constituents. The ultimate goal of our seminar is to deepen our understanding of the relationship between languages and their speakers. Or should it be speakers and their languages? – We’ll see.

The seminar will start with an introductory phase, in which extant theories of language variation and change are introduced and discussed. Also, participants will choose specific changes on which they intend to focus in their research projects. In the second phase, individual research projects are designed and carried out, and emerging problems are discussed in class. At a seminar conference in December or January, outcomes are presented, and in the end, written research papers are produced.

Assessment and permitted materials

Classroom participation, project proposal (conceptual, bibliographical and methodological), oral presentation at a seminar conference, written final paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

(a) regular class attendance (max. 2 absences) and full attendance of seminar conference
(b) handing in project proposal (on time)
(c) giving the oral presentation (on set date)
(d) handing in the final paper (on time)
(e) attaining 60 of the maximum of 100 points.
The pass rate is > 60%.

Examination topics

see 'Minimum Requirements'

Reading list

TBA

To get a taste, you may want to look into ...
Lass, Roger. 1980. On explaining language change (Cambridge studies in linguistics 27). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Association in the course directory

Studium: MA 812 [2]; UF 344
Code/Modul: MA 4, MA 5; UF 4.2.3-222
Lehrinhalt: 12-0368

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:20