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German studies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

German studies, also often known as German philology, is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the language and literature component. Common German names for the field are Germanistik, Deutsche Philologie, and Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft und Literaturwissenschaft. In English, the terms Germanistics or Germanics are sometimes used (mostly by Germans), but the subject is more often referred to as German studies, German language and literature, or German philology.

Modern German studies is usually seen as a combination of two sub-disciplines: German linguistics and Germanophone literature studies.

German linguistics

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German linguistics is traditionally called philology in Germany, as there is something of a difference between philologists and linguists.[vague] It is roughly divided as follows:

In addition, the discipline examines German under various aspects: the way it is spoken and written, i.e., spelling; declination; vocabulary; sentence structure; texts; etc. It compares the various manifestations such as social groupings (slang, written texts, etc.) and geographical groupings (dialects, etc.).

German literature studies

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The study of German literature is divided into two parts: Ältere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft deals with the period from the beginnings of German in the early Middle Ages up to post-Medieval times around AD 1750, while the modern era is covered by Neuere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft. The field systematically examines German literature in terms of genre, form, content, and motifs as well as looking at it historically by author and epoch. Important areas include edition philology, history of literature, and textual interpretation. The relationships of German literature to the literatures of other languages (e.g. reception and mutual influences) and historical contexts are also important areas of concentration. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory: Fourth Edition (ISBN 0-14-051363-9) is printed in English but contains many German-language literary terms that apply cross-culturally in the field of literary criticism; quite a few of the in terms in the book originated in German but have since been adopted by English-language critics and scholars.

German teacher education

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At least in Germany and Austria, German studies in academia play a central role in the education of German school teachers. Their courses usually cover four fields:[1]

  • Linguistics of German (Sprachwissenschaft)
  • German language and literature of up to about 1750 (Ältere Sprache und Literatur)
  • German language and literature since approximately 1750 (Neuere Literaturwissenschaft)
  • Specifics of the didactics of teaching German (Fachdidaktik)

Several universities offer specialized curricula for school teachers, usually called "Deutsch (Lehramt)". In Germany, they are leading to a two step exam and certificate by the federated states of Germany cultural authorities, called the Staatsexamen ("state exam").

History

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As an unsystematic field of interest for individual scholars, German studies can be traced back to Tacitus' Germania. The publication and study of legal and historical source material, such as Medieval Bible translations, were all undertaken during the German Renaissance of the sixteenth century, truly initiating the field of German studies. As an independent university subject, German studies was introduced at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Georg Friedrich Benecke, the Brothers Grimm, and Karl Lachmann.

The Nazi period, and immediate predecessor periods before and after World War I, left large parts of the field, which had drifted off more and more into race-biological thinking, greatly compromised and damaged, as major proponents on both the literature (e.g. Prof. Josef Nadler in Vienna) and the linguistics side (e.g. Prof. Eberhard Kranzmayer in Graz) were actively working for the Nazi Party (Kranzmayer, Höfler) and their racist goals (Nadler)[2] While great efforts have been made in the denazification of the field, some biases are suggested by overseas Germanist to have remained.[3] After all, post-war academia, with "Nazi party membership among university professors greatly exceed[ing] that of the population at large,"[4] was not a complete restart, least of all, in German philology, where 90% of university teachers were NSDAP members.[5]

University departments and research institutions

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Austria
Bénin
Botswana
Canada
China
Czech Republic
India
Ireland
  • Department of Germanic Studies, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland[12]
  • Department of German, National University of Ireland – University College Cork, Cork, Ireland[13]
Israel
Germany

"German studies" is taught at many German universities. Some examples are:

Greece
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Uganda
United Kingdom (UK)
United States of America (USA)
Zimbabwe

See also

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Bibliography

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Books

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  • Atlas Deutsche Sprache [CD-ROM]. Berlin: Directmedia Publishing. 2004.
  • Die Deutschen Klassiker (CD-ROM).
  • Berman, Antoine: L'épreuve de l'étranger. Culture et traduction dans l'Allemagne romantique: Herder, Goethe, Schlegel, Novalis, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hölderlin. Paris: Gallimard, 1984. ISBN 978-2-07-070076-9.
  • Beutin, Wolfgang. Deutsche Literaturgeschichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1992.
  • Bogdal, Klaus-Michael, Kai Kauffmann, & Georg Mein. BA-Studium Germanistik. Ein Lehrbuch. In collaboration with Meinolf Schumacher and Johannes Volmert. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2008. ISBN 978-3-499-55682-1
  • Burger, Harald. Sprache der Massenmedien. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1984.
  • Ernst, Peter. Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft. Vienna: WUV, 2004.
  • Fohrmann, Jürgen & Wilhelm Voßkamp, eds. Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Germanistik im 19. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1994.
  • Hartweg, Frédéric G. Frühneuhochdeutsch. Eine Einführung in die deutsche Sprache des Spätmittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2005.
  • Hermand, Jost. Geschichte der Germanistik. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1994. ISBN 978-3-499-55534-3
  • Hickethier, Knut. Film- und Fernsehanalyse. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1993.
  • Hickethier, Knut, ed. Aspekte der Fernsehanalyse. Methoden und Modelle. Hamburg: Lit, 1994.
  • Hohendahl, Peter Uwe. German Studies in the United States: A Historical Handbook. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
  • Kanzog, Klaus. Einführung in die Filmphilologie. Munich: Schaudig, Bauer, Ledig, 1991.
  • Muckenhaupt, Manfred: Text und Bild. Grundfragen der Beschreibung von Text-Bild-Kommunikation aus sprachwissenschaftlicher Sicht. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 1986.
  • Prokop, Dieter: Medienprodukte. Zugänge – Verfahren – Kritik. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 1981.
  • Schneider, Jost, ed. Methodengeschichte der Germanistik. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009.
  • Schumacher, Meinolf. Einführung in die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2010. ISBN 978-3-534-19603-6
  • Shitanda, So. "Zur Vorgeschichte und Entstehung der deutschen Philologie im 19. Jh.: Karl Lachmann und die Brüder Grimm", in Literarische Problematisierung der Moderne. Medienprodukte : Zugänge-- Verfahren-- Kritik, ed. by Teruaki Takahashi. Munich: Iudicium, 1992.
  • Van Cleve, John W. and A. Leslie Willson. Remarks on the Needed Reform of German Studies in the United States. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993.

Journals

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References

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  1. ^ See e.g. the left navigation at the web page of one of the Cologne University German studies institutes at http://idsl1.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/
  2. ^ Dollinger, Stefan (7 August 2024). "Eberhard Kranzmayer's dovetailing with Nazism: His fascist years and the 'One Standard German Axiom (OSGA)'". Discourse & Society. doi:10.1177/09579265241259094. ISSN 0957-9265.
  3. ^ Hutton, Christopher. 1999. Linguistics and the Third Reich. Routledge, pp. 2-3.
  4. ^ Kandel, Eric R. 2006. In Search of Memory. New York: W. W. Norton, p. 30
  5. ^ Jandl M (2022) Die Germanistik in Graz in der Nachkriegszeit. In: Halbrainer H, Korbel S, Lamprecht G (eds) Der schwierige Umgang mit dem Nationalsozialismus an österreichischen Universitäten: Die Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz im Vergleich. Graz: Clio, pp.157–194.
  6. ^ "Deutschabteilung Benin". 16 May 2023.
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  9. ^ "Katedra německých a rakouských st. | IMS - Institut mezinárodních studií". ims.fsv.cuni.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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  14. ^ "אוניברסיטת חיפה - הפקולטה למדעי הרוח I המרכז ללימודי גרמניה ואירופה - Home". hcges.haifa.ac.il. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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  18. ^ "Institut für Deutsche Philologie - LMU München". germanistik.uni-muenchen.de.
  19. ^ Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germanistisches. "Germanistik - Germanistisches Institut". uni-muenster.de.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "Welcome Page". www.gs.uoa.gr. Archived from the original on 2 September 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Αρχική σελίδα". del.auth.gr.
  22. ^ http://www.ffl.msu.ru/en/about/structure
  23. ^ "German Language and Literature at UCT". 16 May 2023.
  24. ^ "Division German". 16 May 2023.
  25. ^ "NWU German". 16 May 2023.
  26. ^ "UP German". 17 May 2023.
  27. ^ "German Studies - What, why how?". 16 May 2023.
  28. ^ "Stellenbosch German Studies Programme". 16 May 2023.
  29. ^ "UWC German". 16 May 2023.
  30. ^ "Wits, Why study German?". 16 May 2023.
  31. ^ http://www.usal.es/aleman [permanent dead link‍]
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  33. ^ "Department of German Studies - University of Arizona". Department of German Studies - University of Arizona.
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  35. ^ "Department of German Studies - German Studies". brown.edu. 29 April 2024.
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  37. ^ "Home - Germanic Languages - UCLA". Germanic Languages - UCLA.
  38. ^ "Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures". Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures.
  39. ^ "Department of Germanic Languages". germanic.columbia.edu. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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  41. ^ "Home Page". Department of German. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  42. ^ "DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES & LITERATURES". fas.harvard.edu.
  43. ^ "Germanic Studies - University of Illinois at Chicago - UIC". lcsl.las.uic.edu.
  44. ^ ATLAS - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Home « Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign". www.germanic.illinois.edu.
  45. ^ "German & Scandinavian Studies - LLC - UMass Amherst". umass.edu.
  46. ^ "Germanic Languages and Literatures - U-M LSA Germanic Languages and Literatures". lsa.umich.edu.
  47. ^ "German, Scandinavian & Dutch Department". German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch | College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  48. ^ "Department of German". New York University.
  49. ^ "Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures". Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  50. ^ "Department of German - Northwestern University". german.northwestern.edu.
  51. ^ "Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures". Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
  52. ^ "Germanic Languages and Literatures". ccat.sas.upenn.edu.
  53. ^ "Welcome! Willkommen! Добро пожаловать! Вітаємо! Witamy! — German". german.la.psu.edu.
  54. ^ "University of Pittsburgh: Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures". 10 February 2008. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008.
  55. ^ "Department of German". german.princeton.edu.
  56. ^ "Germanic Studie Website Redirect". Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2006.
  57. ^ "Modern Language Major". Truman State University. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  58. ^ "Home". Department of German, Russian and East European Studies. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  59. ^ "Department of German and Russian". www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  60. ^ "german.virginia.edu -". virginia.edu.
  61. ^ "Department of Germanics - University of Washington". depts.washington.edu.
  62. ^ "Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures - Washington University in St. Louis". german.wustl.edu.
  63. ^ "Welcome". Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Yale University.
  64. ^ "German". Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
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  70. ^ "GOETHE YEARBOOK". Goethe Society of North America. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  71. ^ "Journal of Austrian Studies". Project Muse. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
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