BA123 The Germanic languages from a historico-cultural perspective

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. RNDr. Václav Blažek, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. RNDr. Tomáš Hoskovec, CSc.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
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
Course objectives
The course offers the survey of Germanic languages in their diachronic and synchronic perspective. Students are informed about the oldest history of Germanic ethnics. The grammatical structure of the both modern and ancient languages is mediated by personal presentation, stimulating their active approach.
Syllabus
  • 1. Witness of antique authors about the ancienit Germans (Caesar, Pliny, Tacitus, Ptolemy). 2. Germans in the time of Movement of nations. Witness of Jordanes, Procopius etc. 3. Position of the Germanic branch within Indo-European and its characteristic features. 4. Sketch of the Germanic comparative phonology and morphology. 5. Various models of the genetic classification of the Germanic languages. 6. The oldest use of the script by Germans: helmet from Negau and early runic script. 7. Survey of the early literary Germanic languages (1st mill. AD): Gothic & Crimean Gothic. Northwest Germanic or Old Runic. Language of the later runes & Old Nordic, plus Old Gutnic. Old English. Old Frisian. Old Saxon. Old High German. 8. Survey of the modern Germanic languages: High German & Yiddish. Low German. Dutch-Flemish-Afrikaans. West/East/North Frisian. English & Scottish. Danish. Swedish. Norwegish. Faeroese. Icelandic.
Literature
  • SCHLETTE, Friedrich. Germáni mezi Thorsbergem a Ravennou : kulturní dějiny Germánů do konce stěhování národů. Vyd. 1. Praha: Orbis, 1977, 302 s. URL info
Teaching methods
Active dialogue based on presentation of partial descriptions from both a theacher and students.
Assessment methods
The final exam or colloquium depends on quality of the written description of the grammatical structure of a chosen languge or comparison of two languages.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2007, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2009/BA123