Department of English
Course Title: 0501 Syntax
Course Description
Syntax is the part of grammar which deals with the ways words are combined into sentences. We will first look at some key concepts in syntax from a structuralist perspective, starting with smaller syntactic units such as the word and the notion of different word classes. Phrases are another key concept syntactically superordinate to words, which function as constituents in clauses. In this context, it will be of pivotal importance to keep the dichotomy of form and function in mind. Apart from analysing different types of clauses (and sentences) and different ways of ordering elements in a clause (and a sentence), we will also examine the semantic roles of clause elements to discover the close connection between syntax and meaning. We will then briefly look into other approaches to syntax (valency grammar, functional sentence perspective, generative grammar), before we explore syntactic variation in selected varieties of English and the differences between spoken and written grammars.
Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Dr. Tobias Bernaisch
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
13/04/2023 - 14/07/2023
Mode and Time
Asynchronous (recorded)
Online Tool for Teaching
Stud.IP, Webex
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master
Prerequisites
Englisch B2
ECTS
6
Course Title: 0502 The United States in the Twentieth Century: Law, Citizenship, Music, Literature, Media
Course Description
This lecture introduces students to topics such as how literary studies and philology came to embrace the analysis of cultural phenomena such as sports as well as media interpretation and theory. Central concepts and methods of cultural and media studies will be introduced and illustrated in case studies. This work will lead us into discussions of gender, sexuality, diversity, and social hierarchies as well.

Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Prof. Dr. Greta Olson
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
12/04/2023-12/07/2023
Mode and Time
Synchronous (live), Time (CET): Wed. 06.00 p.m. - 08.00 p.m.
Online Tool for Teaching
Cisco Webex / BigBlueButton
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master
Prerequisites
Abilitiy to follow and write in academic English.
ECTS
3
Course Title: 0504 History of the English Language (Group A)
Course Description
The study of the history of the English language offers highly relevant insights into how the language has changed over the course of the centuries and into how the English language is structured and functions all around the world today. Therefore, we will pay particular attention to the different periods in the history of the English language, i.e. Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Late Modern English and Present-day English, in order to follow the structural changes on the levels of phonology, lexis, syntax and semantics that have led to the English language as we use it today.
Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Dr. Barbara Ann Güldenring
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
13/4/2023 - 14/07/2023
Mode and Time
Tuesdays
Synchronous: 03.00 p.m. - 04.00 p.m.
Asynchronous (recorded)
Online Tool for Teaching
Studip and Ilias
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master
Prerequisites
English B2 (CEFR)
ECTS
5
Course Title: 0505 History of the English Language (Group B)
Course Description
The study of the history of the English language offers highly relevant insights into how the language has changed over the course of the centuries and into how the English language is structured and functions all around the world today. Therefore, we will pay particular attention to the different periods in the history of the English language, i.e. Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Late Modern English and Present-day English, in order to follow the structural changes on the levels of phonology, lexis, syntax and semantics that have led to the English language as we use it today.
Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Dr. Barbara Ann Güldenring
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
13/4/2023 - 14/07/2023
Mode and Time
Thursdays
Synchronous: 03.00 p.m. - 04.00 p.m.
Asynchronous (recorded)
Online Tool for Teaching
Studip and Ilias
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master
Prerequisites
English B2 (CEFR)
ECTS
5
Course Title: 0506 Introduction to English Linguistics
Course Description
This course aims at familiarizing students with approaches to the study of human language in general and to English in particular. Attention will be paid to important concepts and terms of core areas of theoretical linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) and to their relevance to the fields of applied linguistics, such as language acquisition and sociolinguistics.
Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Dr. Barbara Ann Güldenring
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
17/04/2023 - 14/07/2023
Mode and Time
Mondays
Synchronous (live), time: 10.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
Asynchronous (recorded)
Online Tool for Teaching
Studip and Ilias
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master
Prerequisites
English B2 (CEFR)
ECTS
5
Course Title: 0509 Phonetics and Phonology
Course Description
This lecture surveys the sounds of English, primarily those of British and American. We will focus on the articulation of English sounds, including speech organs and the production of vowels and consonants, as well as the system used for the phonetic description of speech sounds, the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA. We will also have a look at phonemes, the smallest sound units of a language, and the distribution of their variants. Another unit will deal with phenomena of connected speech, such as the mutual influence between neighbouring sounds, word stress and intonation. Students will also learn to read and transcribe spoken English using the IPA transcription.
There will be one introductory online meeting at the beginning of the semester. After that, this course will be asynchronous.
Course book: Lorenz, Frank. 2013. Basics of phonetics & English phonology. With IPA transcription. 2nd. ed. Berlin: Logos Verlag.
Faculty
Faculty of Languages, Literature, Culture
Institute
English Department
Lecturer
Prof. Dr. Magnus Huber
Study Period (dd/mm/yy)
11/04/2023 - 14/07/2023
Mode and Time
Asynchronous (recorded)
Online Tool for Teaching
ILIAS
Language of Instruction
English
Target Group
Bachelor, Master of English
Prerequisites
Introduction to english linguistics; Sufficient English skills
ECTS
2