GRMN(LING) 8520

Intensive investigation of synchronic and diachronic variation in German. Taught in English.

This course provides an overview of the extra-linguistic factors that either promote the maintenance of a minority/heritage language, or effect the shift towards the majority or hegemonic regional or national variety. Specific emphasis is placed on the methods and data sources for conducting qualitative and quantitative sociolinguistic analysis.

From a theoretical perspective, the course focuses on Verticalization – a model based in community theory – and will use Josh Brown’s edited volume as a primary text. Primary data concerns contact varieties of Finnish, Norwegian, West Frisian, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Eastern Band Cherokee. Discussion will center around the model’s application in the American context, and applications of the model beyond an English-majority setting. Additional case studies examine Somali, Swedish, and Low German in North America; and on Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Hunsrück and Bernese Swiss German in South America, in majority Spanish and Portuguese contexts.

Additionally, papers students write for the course could be turned into an abstract submission at the beginning of the summer for WILA 15 (Workshop on Immigrant Languages), which will be hosted by UGA in Fall of 2024.