Research

Third-party funded projects have a special priority with us. The project "German media language abroad - the example of the German minority press in Central and Eastern Europe" has been funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media since April 1, 2019. The aim of the project is the scientific research and documentation of the current German media language abroad using the example of the German minority press in Central and Eastern Europe.

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Dr. Csaba Földes
Project collaboration: Uschi Schmidt, M.A.

Since September 1, 2015, the Department of German Linguistics runs the research project "Digital Portal 'Hungarian-German Bilingualism and Language Contact Corpus'", which is funded by the Minister of State for Culture in her function as the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). Project leader is Prof. Dr. Dr. Csaba Földes, contributors are: Uschi Schmidt, M.A., research assistent, Johannes Steudel, M.Ed., research assistent, as well as research and student helpers.

Content

The content of the research project is a variation and contact linguistic research and documentation of authentic spoken language material in the field of German as a minority language in Hungary (keyword: "Donauschwaben").

Background

While most of the research to date has concentrated on the description of the Hungarian-German basic dialects (Bavarian, Franconian and Swabian), the research project focuses on the actual use of language, which is largely characterized by multilingualism, inter-/transculturality and variation. This is because the "pure" German dialects are hardly spoken in the study region today; rather, mixed forms with Hungarian and other contact languages are characteristic. After all, all Hungarian Germans are bi- or multilingual, with different configurations of dominance. The resulting corpus of Hungarian-German bilingualism is intended to systematically provide real texts taken from the lives of three important settlement regions of German minorities, which vividly represent the Hungarian-German contact varieties of the present in their diversity. This diversity results, among other things, from the fact that different dialect types, such as Bavarian and Franconian, as they are used today by bi- or multilingual speakers in Hungary, have their say.

Main objective

The main goal is to make the corpus that is to be created digitally accessible and usable in structured and commented form in an electronic database, primarily for linguistic and cultural studies (but also for social, mental and everyday history). Thus, the project aims at developing a digital portal with a Hungarian-German bilingualism and language contact corpus. Furthermore, the project results are to be manifested in scientific publications.

Cooperations

International cooperation takes place primarily with the Institute for German and Translation Studies at the Pannonian University of Veszprém (Hungary) and with Prof. Dr. Hans C. Boas from the University of Texas at Austin (USA) in connection with the Texas German Dialect Project, which he is leading.

The homepage of the project can be found here.

The project "Language Education in Multilingual Contexts" is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the joint "Quality Offensive Teacher Education" and is a sub-project of QUALITEACH II.

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Dr. Csaba Földes
Project collaborators: Dr. Andrea Bambekand Laura Kuhlig, M.A.

More information about the project can be found here.

The Department of German Linguistics runs a GIP project on "Intercultural German Studies: Impulses for Research and Teaching on Word and Text", which is funded by the DAAD. Project leader is Prof. Dr. Dr. Csaba Földes, project assistant is PD Dr. Markus Hartmann.

Our main partner is the Chair of German Language at the Moscow State Pedagogical University (project partner: Prof. Dr. Lyubov Nefedova), the secondary partner is the Chair of Germanic and Romance Languages and their Didactics at the State Social Sciences and Humanities University Kolomna (project partner: Dr. Natalya Khomutskaya).

As part of its DAAD-sponsored GIP project Erfurt-Moscow, the Department of German Linguistics offers its students the opportunity to support and supplement the teaching in Moscow and Kolomna as a tutor for the year 2020. Please submit an application with relevant documents to Prof. Földes as of now (please address your letters exclusively to: yvonne.kirmse@uni-erfurt.de). The program consists of two stays at the Chair of Germanic and Romance Languages and their Didactics at the State Social Science and Humanities University in Kolomna. Travel and accommodation costs (lump sums) will be paid by us, overnight accommodation on site will be paid by the Russian hosts.

• Duration of stay: approx. September to October 2020.
• Travel grant: 425 Euro + residence grant: ca. 900 Euro.
• Application deadline is Friday, June 12, 2020, 12am.

More information can be found here.

Project description

The German Institute Partnership (GIP) has existed since 2014 between the Department of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Erfurt and the Chair of German Language at the Moscow State Pedagogical University. In addition, the Chair of Germanic and Romance Languages and their Didactics at the State Social Sciences and Humanities University Kolomna is included as a secondary partner. The partnership pursues the goal of making innovative contemporary concepts from intercultural German studies productive for the partnership and the partner universities by considering interculturality as a principle guiding knowledge. Consequently, the Institute's partnership is under the title: "Intercultural German Studies: Impulses for Research and Teaching on Word and Text".

The primary object of the GIP is the cooperation in research and teaching in the field of international German linguistics. Annual conferences as well as regular joint research projects and publications consolidate the academic exchange. Special support is given to young scholars, but also to students of German studies at all three universities; joint supervision of doctoral and postdoctoral theses is intended to achieve an international synergy effect. Innovative curricula and teaching materials will be developed at or for the partner institutions of the Russian Federation. In addition, professors, research assistants and tutors from the University of Erfurt will enrich teaching in Moscow and Kolomna through workshops and seminars. These activities have a multiplier effect: not only the universities concerned, but also other teaching institutions where German is taught should benefit from the GIP.

Central research interests are lexicology/lexicography, phraseology and bi- or multilingualism against the background of intercultural Germanic linguistics. In addition, German didactics and German literature studies are included in the partnership.

Project activities

Some important project activities within the framework of the German Institute Partnership Erfurt-Moscow-Kolomna in order to achieve the goals of research and the promotion of young researchers in particular, but also the innovation and internationalization of Russian and German German studies and thus to increase the attractiveness of the German study locations Erfurt, Moscow and Kolomna:

Research visits / guest professorships / guest lecturers, for example:

• Prof. Dr. Dr. Csaba Földes (Erfurt → Kolomna, winter semester 2019),
• Prof. Dr. Rudolf Helmstetter (Erfurt → Moskau, summer and winter semester 2018),
• Prof. Dr. Lyubov Nefedova (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2019),
• Doz. Dr. Natalya Khomutskaya (Kolomna → Erfurt, summer semester 2018, summer semester 2019).

Exchange of young scientists within a time frame of two weeks to one month, for example:

• Olesya Belyakova (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2018),
• Elena Blokhina (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2019),
• Evgeniy Kunavin (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2018),
• Ekaterina Voronko (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2018).

Tutors and students, for example:

• Polina Borisova (Kolomna → Erfurt, winter semester 2018/19),
• Svetlana Frolova (Kolomna → Erfurt, winter semester 2018/19),
• Anastasiya Kozlova (Moskau → Erfurt, summer semester 2019),
• Sofiya Pautova (Kolomna → Erfurt, summer semester 2019),
• Ekaterina Vasileva (Moskau → Erfurt, winter semester 2018/19),
• Hendrike Halbert (Erfurt → Kolomna, September 2019),
• Ernest Krychmar (Erfurt → Kolomna, September/October 2018),
• Laura Lutz (Erfurt → Moskau, September/October 2018). 

Joint promotions Erfurt-Moskau:

Ongoing:

• Olesya Belyakova (Moskau): New word formation with foreign language elements in the contemporary German language.

Successfully completed:

• Elena Blokhina (Moskau): Dialectal lexis as a means of reflecting regional culture (using material from Central Bavarian dialect varieties of Upper Bavaria) (May 9, 2019),
• Mariya Katamadze (Moskau): Phenomenon of the non-expressivity of phraseologisms (on the material of scientific and official discourse) (May 4, 2016),
• Elena Shchirova (Moskau): Linguistic means of the comical in the works of Karl Valentin (May 4, 2016). 

Joint conferences and colloquia, for example:

• XVII. Conference of the Russian Association of Germanists ( main topic text typology and discursive practices), Kolomna, November 28-30, 2019: The exposé can be downloaded here.
• XVI. Conference of the Russian Association of Germanists ( main topic socio-cultural linguistics and literature), Moscow, November 29 - December 01, 2018: The exposé can be downloaded here.
• International conference "German vocabulary - intercultural", Moscow, October 9-10, 2015: The exposécan be downloaded here. The conference proceedingshave been published in 2019 as the 13th volume of the series Beiträge zur Interkulturellen Germanistik by Narr/Francke/Attempto in Tübingen.

Publications in the context of the project (selection):

• Blokhina, E.: Dialektale Lexik als Mittel zur Widerspiegelung regionaler Kultur (am Material mittelbairischer Dialektvarietäten Oberbayerns). Erfurt/Moskau 2019 (Diss.).
• Földes, Cs./Nefedova, L., ed..: Deutscher Wortschatz – interkulturell. Tübingen:  Narr/Francke/Attempto 2019. (Beiträge zur Interkulturellen Linguistik; 13).
• Földes, Cs.: Sprache – Interaktion – Kultur: ein Beitrag zur Problemdekonstruktion anhand des Paradigmas Linguokulturologie. In: Reeg, Ulrike/Simon, Ulrike (ed.): Facetten der Mehrsprachigkeit aus theoretischer und unterrichtspraktischer Sicht. Münster/New York: Waxmann 2019 (Interkulturelle Perspektiven in der Sprachwissenschaft und ihrer Didaktik; 8). p. 85–115.
• Földes, Cs.: Politische Sprache und Interkulturalität – am Beispiel der Presse deutscher Minderheiten. In: Fábián, A./Trost, I. (ed.): Sprachgebrauch in der Politik. Grammatische, lexikalische, pragmatische, kulturelle und dialektologische Perspektiven. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2018 (Reihe Germanistische Linguistik; 319). p. 299–317.
• Földes, Cs.: Mediensprache im Kontakt der Kulturen: Beispiel "Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung". In: Földes, Cs. (ed.): Sprach- und Textkulturen – interkulturelle und vergleichende Konzepte. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto 2018 (Beiträge zur Interkulturellen Germanistik; 11). p. 43–77.
• Khomutskaya, N.: Deutsche Entlehnungen in Leo Tolstois Roman „Krieg und Frieden“. In: Földes, Cs. (ed.): The­menfelder, Erkenntnisinteressen und Perspektiven in der Germanistik in Mitteleuropa. Tübingen: Narr/Francke/Attempto 2018. (Beiträge zur Interkulturellen Germanistik; 10). p. 17–26.
• Nefedova, L.: Diatopic variety of German as a reason for the lexical polyonymy (on the material of the cul­turally marked vocabulary. In: Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-didactic Researches 22 (2018). p. 10–20.
• Katamadze, M.: Phänomen der Nicht-Expressivität von Phraseologismen (am Material des deutschsprachigen wissenschaftlichen und amtlichen Diskurses). Erfurt/Moskau 2016 (Diss.).
• Shchirova, E.: Sprachliche Mittel des Komischen in den Werken Karl Valentins. Erfurt/Mos­kau 2016 (Diss.).

Field reports

Field reports:

Here you can find the field report of our tutor Peter Hofmann.

You can also download the field report of our tutor Theresa Pfister.