German Linguistics

How do people interact in the digital age? How do we speak? How do we write? How do we communicate? What impact does this have on our relationships, on society and on being human?

These are questions that characterise linguistics at the chair. Our focus is therefore on examining the specific application of language and finding out under which conditions it stabilises or deconstructs relationships, generates or de-escalates conflicts, includes or discriminates and which role media transmission pathways play in this.

In doing so, we do not neglect the underlying structures and organisational principles of language, its elements and rules, but we place them in relation to their current use, e.g. among children, adolescents, adults; in highly personal, informal or institutional everyday situations, in social media or in relation to machines; orally, in writing, in standard language, in dialect, interaction-oriented. This also raises the question of situation-appropriate use: appropriateness, the parameters of which can and should be defined against the framework of successful interaction.

The questions raised above also make it clear that linguistics in Greifswald is capable of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary connections that enable graduates and academics to actively, innovatively and responsibly shape the transformation processes in the context of ‘digital change’ in school and academic education, in science, culture and politics.

In Greifswald, you will also benefit from the offers linked to Low German language and literature, which give you the opportunity to try out modern linguistic methods of analysis in the field of applied dialectology and to study the cultural and literary heritage of an important and extensive German language region.
We look forward to greeting those who come to study and research with us.