NJ_G220 German Inflectional Classes

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/1/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 for the colloquium). Recommended Type of Completion: z (credit). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Roland Anton Wagner, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Roland Anton Wagner, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Helena Rytířová
Supplier department: Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
NJ_G220/01: Fri 22. 9. 14:00–15:50 učebna 1, Fri 20. 10. 14:00–15:50 učebna 55, Fri 24. 11. 14:00–15:50 učebna 19a, R. Wagner
Prerequisites
Working knowledge of German in order to understand class lectures in German and to read linguistic litrature.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the nominal and verbal inflectional classes of German as they are delimited in recent work on German morphology. Students should gain a nuanced view on German inflexion distinguishing between wide and productive classes on the one hand and small and unproductive classes on the other.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able
- to name the commonly assumed inflectional classes of German verbs and nouns,
- to compare different suggestions in the literature how to delimit the German inflectional classes,
- to evaluate theses suggestion with respect to their linguistic merit and their value for teaching German as a foreign language,
- to enumerate some important verbs and nouns which in the course of the historical development of German changed their class affiliation and to explain the reasons for these changes.
Syllabus
  • - Definition of the concept “inflectional class”; morphological and extramorphological motivation of inflectional classes;
  • - The traditional inflectional classes of German nouns according to J. Grimm;
  • - Criticism of the traditional classification;
  • - Helbig & Buscha’s suggestion for the teaching of German as a foreign language;
  • - More detailed classifications in the contemporary linguistic literature; the possibility of combining classes into macroclasses by referring to extra-morphological properties;
  • - Remotivation of inflectional classes as trigger for class changes of certain lexemes;
  • - The rise of transitional classes as a result of uncompleted class changes;
  • - Inflectional classes of German verbs;
  • - Morphological naturalness and the change of inflectional class: Evidence from German verbal inflection;
  • - Are there inflectional classes with German adjectives?
Literature
  • Bittner, Andreas (1996):Starke „schwache“ Verben – schwache „starke“ Verben: Deutsche Verbflexion und Natürlichkeit. Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.
  • Carstairs, Andrew (1987): Allomorphy in inflexion. London: Croom Helm.
  • EISENBERG, Peter. Grundriß der deutschen Grammatik. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 1999, 551 s. ISBN 3-476-01642-0. info
  • HELBIG, Gerhard and Joachim BUSCHA. Deutsche Grammatik : ein Handbuch für den Ausländerunterricht. Berlin: Langenscheidt, 2001, 654 s. ISBN 9783468494932. info
  • Nübling, Damaris (2008): Was tun mit Flexionsklassen? Deklinationsklassen und ihr Wandel im Deutschen und seinen Dialekten, in: Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik, 75, 2008 (3), 282-330.
  • WURZEL, Wolfgang Ullrich. Inflectional morphology and naturalness. Translated by Manfred Schentke. Dordrecht ;: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989, xi, 219. ISBN 1556080263. info
Teaching methods
The work in class is based on compulsory reading of selected linguistic texts (written summaries may be required during the term), analysis of German language material (partly to be done at home) and the comparison of different grammars and text books of German in oral (short presentations) and written (homework) form.
Assessment methods
The course can be completed either by a “credit“ or by a “colloquium” (cf. Study and Examination Rules, section 18 and 19). In order to acquire a “credit”, students have to hand in the compulsory homework and to regularly attend class (no more than three absences). In order to acquire the “colloquium”, students in addition have to hand in a seminar paper comparing different systems of inflectional classes used in grammars or text books.
Language of instruction
German
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 6 hodin v kombinované formě.
Teacher's information
The seminar is recommended in addition to the lectures on German morphology (NJ_G200).
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2021.
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