230198 Linguistic Contrasts in English and German (S) (SoSe 2026)

In this course, we will learn about the systemic differences between English and German on all levels of linguistic description, focusing on key similarities and differences of the two closely-related West Germanic languages.

Students will examine phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic contrasts between the two languages, with particular attention to how these differences shape meaning, structure, and usage.

By closely examining the language structures of English and German, students will not only understand to what extent and how both languages differ, and thus gain metalinguistic awareness, but will also be able to discuss implications for second language learning, translation, and intercultural communication, but to name a few.

We will analyse authentic language data to find explanations for systemic contrasts, which is especially useful for future teachers of English. In other words, this course will help students to critically engage with questions related to linguistic contrasts they intuitively know and offer a methodological toolkit to describe those differences from a contrastive perspective.

Note that this course is designed for students with prior knowledge of both English and German.