The sounds of German

Abstract

This is a module framework. It can be viewed online or downloaded as a zip file.

As taught in Autumn Semester 2009.

This module investigates the sounds of German and how they can be described accurately (“phonetics and phonology”). Students will learn to transcribe German using the notation of the International Phonetic Association, and we will look in particular at aspects of German pronunciation that are hard to master because they are different to English or similar to French. We will also look at how foreign words (including English words) are integrated into the German sound system, and at regional variation in spoken German. Practical transcription skills will form a major part of coursework, including one of the two assignments.

Suitable for study at undergraduate level 1.

Dr Nicola McLelland, School of Modern Languages and Culture.

Dr McLelland studied German and French at the University of Sydney, Australia, where, after studying for two years in Bonn, Germany, also gained a PhD in medieval German literature. After an MPhil in linguistics at the University of Cambridge Dr McLelland developed her current interest in the history of people's ideas and beliefs about language, especially German.

Dr McLelland has three main research areas: i. the history of linguistic ideas, especially the history of German grammar-writing, and the history how German has been presented to English learners of it; ii. contemporary sociolinguistic theory as applied to German and to other Germanic languages; iii. narrative techniques in medieval German literature, especially in Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet.