Hauptseminar English and German in Contrast

The field of contrastive linguistics has developed over the past few decades and aims at minimising the detrimental effect of one's native language on a second one learned later. This is achieved by highlighting the difficulties which speakers with a given outset target language are likely to have with a certain target language. Contrastive linguistics normally involves two languages, e.g. English and German. The aim is to highlight the structural differences between the two languages and, by pointing these out to language learners, to minimise the interference from the mother tongue into the target language. There is also the broader matter of language contact and how languages develop throughout their histories and issues around this complex will also be considered, comparing English and German in this respect as well as looking at other languages for comparative purposes. Literature Barber, Charles, Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw 2009. The English language. A historical introduction. New and revised edition of Barber (1993). Cambridge: University Press. König, Ekkehard and Volker Gast 2009. Understanding English-German Contrasts. Second edition. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. König, Ekkehard and Volker Gast (eds) 2008. English in Contrast. Special issue of Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 56.3. Salmons, Joseph C. 2012. A History of German: What the past reveals about today’s language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. N.B. Further literature will be provided to students for their course work during the seminar. Anglistik Universität Duisburg-Essen WS 2013/14 LGyGe, Lehramt an Gymnasien u. Gesamtschulen Professor Hickey Raymond