GRN3175

German phonology and morphology

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

E M Wilkinson

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Clayton
* Corequisites: a third-year language core subject

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject students should have a thorough knowledge of the sound system of Modern Standard German, both vowels and consonants; have an improved knowledge of certain phonological processes in Modern Standard German, eg final devoicing of obstruents, assimilations, umlauting as a grammatical marker; have gained some knowledge of different theoretical approaches to data; know the fundamental word classes of German and how the inflectional systems of German work; have gained a knowledge of certain types of word formation in German, above all compounding and derivation.

Synopsis This subject consists of an investigation of German phonology (phonemics and phonetics) in a generative framework, followed by an investigation of the combinatory properties (ie cluster formation) in various generative frameworks. This will be followed by an investigation of the basic papers on morphological analysis, with special reference to German.

Assessment Written (3000 words): 70%
* Examination (2 hours): 30%

Prescribed texts

A reading list will be distributed at the beginning of the semester.