Course: Lexical Innovations in German

ECTS credits: 2

Language: German

Duration: one semester

Status: elective (2nd and 3rd year)

Course type: 2 hours of seminar

Course description: The course covers following topics: 1. lexical changes as the most common and most visible type of language change; 2.-3. types of lexical innovations - neologisms and occasionalisms; 4.-5. patterns of word-building for the creation of German lexical innovations; 6.-7. neologisms - new words; 8.-9. neologisms - new meanings; 10.-11. occasionalisms - new words; 12. analysis of German texts with special reference to lexical innovations; 13. analysis of audiovisual materials with special reference to lexical innovations; 14.–15. translation of German lexical innovations as elements of culture into Croatian.

Learning outcomes: Students will be able to: describe the main characteristics of language changes at the lexical level; identify German lexical innovations in spoken and written language; enumerate and describe the patterns of word-building that generate German lexical innovations; translate German lexical innovations into Croatian; identify elements of language contact; to describe the basics of diachronic semantics on concrete examples.

Teaching methods: teaching through lectures, presentations, classroom discussion

Literature: Elsen, Hilke (2011): Neologismen. Formen und Funktionen neuer Wörter in verschiedenen Varietäten des Deutschen. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag; Fleischer, Wolfgang; Barz, Irmhild (2012): Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. 4. Auflage. Berlin – Boston: Walter de Gruyter; Herberg, Dieter (2002): Neologismen in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Probleme ihrer Erfassung und Beschreibung. In: Deutsch als Fremdsprache. 4/2002, 195 – 200; Kinne, Michael (1998): Der lange Weg zum deutschen Neologismenwörterbuch. In: Teubert, Wolfgang (ur.): Neologie und Korpus. (Studien zur deutschen Sprache, Bd. 11). Tübingen, 63 – 110; Schippan, Thea (2002): Lexikologie der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag; Steffens, Doris (2012): Bufdis und anderes. Neues im Wortschatz 2011. In: Sprachreport 2/2012. Mannheim: Institut für Deutsche Sprache, 2 – 7.

Evaluation Methods and Grading: class attendance, presentation, seminar paper