239671 Variety in Language Structures (S) (SoSe 2013)

English ain’t no uniform language. Standard English represents only a small faction of the linguistic reality of the English-speaking world and is met with an abundance of non-standard first and second language varieties. To make matters even more complicated, from a global perspective even Standard English is not uniform.
In this course we will describe characteristic morphosyntactic structures of different varieties of English. The descriptions will be collected (Wiki) and can be used for comparative or detailed studies of the varieties we will look at.
There are two possible approaches we can take: 1) we choose different varieties and registers and then look at their characteristic structures 2) we choose morphosyntactic structures and compare their realization in different varieties and registers of English.
Which approach we are going to take will be decided in class.
In order to contextualize the usage of the structures we will also need sociolinguistic background information on the individual varieties and registers.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen, notwendige Vorkenntnisse

BA old, M.Ed.: BM1-4; (BM5.3 “Applied Linguistics” recommended)
BA new: BM3; (linguistics course from PM2, 3, or 4 recommended)

Literaturangaben

Crystal, D. (2003): English as a Global Language. Cambridge: CUP.
Gramley, S., K.-M. Pätzold (2004): A Survey of Modern English. 2nd ed., London, NY: Routledge.
Kortmann, B. (et.al.) (eds.) (2008): Varieties of English 1-4. Berlin, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kortmann, B., K. Lunkenheimer (eds.) (2011): The electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English [eWAVE]. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. http://www.ewave-atlas.org, accessed 12/20/2012.
Schröder, A., U. Busse, R. Schneider (eds.) (2012): Codifications, Canons, and Curricula: Description and Prescription in Language and Literature. Bielefeld: Aisthesis.
Trudgill, P., J. Hannah (2008): International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English. 5th ed., London: Hodder Education.