German Grammar Research Articles

What puzzles L2 learners about German grammar? Using practitioner research to explore threshold concepts in language curricula

Taking the perspective of a language program director (LPD), this practitioner research (PR) study describes how analysis of learners’ reflections written for an advanced undergraduate German course in the United States helped an LPD see how students had experienced learning grammar in lower-level instruction. The study analyses a semester-long project based on the PR framework of exploratory practice (EP), in which students ( n = 30) pursued individual questions (‘puzzles’) about German grammar that would be most meaningful to them in their language learning journey. Initial analysis of the students’ questions revealed a general preference among learners to investigate grammar topics previously covered in the lower-division curriculum. In-depth case studies, focused on two learners’ experiences with EP, show how the project allowed students to investigate their grammar puzzles using resources across the entire curriculum, including dialoguing with teachers and students in other courses. The study looks to threshold concept theory to theorize students’ learning experiences vis-à-vis L2 grammar (specifically inflectional morphology, i.e. case markings) and argues that the flexibility of the EP framework and its core tenets of working towards understanding and involving others supported the LPD in seeing how learners understood and felt about German grammar and grammar instruction across the larger curriculum.

The Structural Complexity and Evolutionary Patterns of German Grammar

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the complexities inherent in German grammar, focusing on key features such as the case system, verb conjugation patterns, and syntactic structures. The research explores the diachronic evolution of German grammar, tracing its development from Old High German through Middle High German, and examines how historical linguistic changes continue to influence modern usage. Additionally, the study addresses the cognitive and pedagogical challenges that learners face, offering targeted strategies for effective grammar instruction, including contrastive analysis and contextualized practice. By situating German grammar within a broader linguistic and historical context, this research contributes to our understanding of language complexity and the interplay between grammatical structure and language learning.

The use of mnemonics techniques in teaching german grammar

The article deals with the specifics of teaching grammatical structure of the German language. Particular attention is paid to the use of mnemonic techniques designed to facilitate the processes of perception and memorization of new information, as well as to facilitate the usage of already studied grammar rules. Mnemonic techniques used when working with the category of gender of nouns, temporary forms, the morphological structure of lexical units of the German language are described separately.

ТУРЦИЗМИ И ГЕРМАНИЗМИ У ЛЕКСИКОГРАФСКОМ РАДУ ЈАКШЕ ДИНИЋА: СЕМАНТИЧКА АДАПТАЦИЈА

The subject of the paper is the semantic adaptation of Turkish and German loanwords in the lexicographic work of Jakša Dinić, which is related to the area of the Timoč-Lužnica dialect. The material is taken from the following dictionaries: Dictionary of the Timok Dialect (DINIĆ 2008), Additions of Dictionary of the Timok Dialect (DINIĆ 2019) and Words and expressions of the traditional diet of the population of the Knjaževac area (DINIĆ 2020). Due to limited space, only nouns denoting something inanimate (object, space, food, clothing, footwear, means of transport, measure, musical instrument, etc.) were taken into consideration. The analyzed corpus includes 127 loanwords. For the purposes of this paper, 49 were selected. The meanings they have in the giving language are determined using the following dictionaries: Türkҫe-Sirpҫa Sӧzlük (ĐINĐIĆ, TEODOSIJEVIĆ i dr. 1997), Illustrated German-Serbian dictionary (JOVANOVIĆ, CIKORA 2003) and German-Serbian and Serbian-German Dictionary: (with German Grammar) (POPOVIĆ 2005). The paper has the following aims: 1) to compare the dialectal meanings with the meanings in the giving language based on the analysis of vocabulary material and 2) to determine whether there has been a change in meaning in the dialect. Based on the analysis of vocabulary, we came to the following results: 1) replica and model are semantically matched in all contexts, 2) replica has a narrower meaning than model, 3) the replica narrows the meaning in relation to the model, and then expands the meaning, 4) replica has a broader meaning than model and 5) replica and model do not match in meaning.

Remote support of the process of teaching German grammar using mobile applications at the university

The article is devoted to the study of issues related to the disclosure of the potential of mobile applications in the field of foreign language teaching in the context of the modernization of Russian education. The article presents arguments in favor of the use of mobile applications: improving the effectiveness of educational and cognitive activities, the formation of independent work skills, increasing the motivation of students to learn a foreign language, the formation of the ability to organize and independently plan the process of learning a language, evaluate educational activities. The article pays special attention to the potential of mobile applications in teaching grammar of a foreign language at different levels – from beginner to advanced. The author recommends using several different types of applications to achieve maximum results at the three highlighted stages of work on grammatical material. The first stage is the presentation of grammatical phenomena and the creation of basic knowledge based on the use of specific mobile applications. The second stage involves automating the use of grammatical skills through their practice in mobile applications. The third stage is the control of the assimilation of knowledge using mobile applications. The author describes an experiment in which mobile applications were introduced into the educational process. At the preparatory stage of the experiment, the learning potential of mobile applications was studied and input conditions were diagnosed. At the second stage of the study, a choice of mobile applications was made. The integration of mobile applications at the third stage was implemented in the form of remote support for teaching German grammar as part of a traditional lesson. The results of the experiment, obtained after repeated testing of the experimental group at the fourth stage, demonstrated the effectiveness of using mobile applications in teaching German grammar.

GERMAN IN LUXEMBOURG: LEXICOGRAPHIC CODIFICATION OF NATIONAL STANDARD

The article is an analytical review of some problems of dictionary codification of Luxembourg German Standard. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the Luxembourg variety of German Standard, which differs in a number of distinctive features from other national varieties of the German language, is still poorly studied. Some aspects of the study of the German language in Luxembourg, the criteria of the standard in general and the features of the Luxembourg standard of the German language in particular are briefly described. The main part of the study is the analysis of current lexicographic sources that codify the specific features of the pronunciation, grammar, lexical and semantic norms of the Luxembourg Standard. The results of the analysis of lexicographic sources, which are descriptive codifiers of the German Standard in Luxembourg, are presented: a pronunciation dictionary of the Standard High German language, the project “Regional Variation in the Grammar of Standard German”, dictionaries of varieties of the German language. The structure and content of the dictionary of the Luxembourg standard for the German language [Sieburg, 2022] are considered in detail. This includes general information about the mega-, macro- and microstructure of the dictionary, the subject and variable characteristics of the codified vocabulary, the features of the structure and content of dictionary entries. As a result of the analysis, a conclusion is made about the development of the normalizing activity of the Luxembourg German Standard and about the recognizing of this standard, which has specific features at different levels of the language system.

Учебникът по немски език на д-р Ботю Шанов в контекста на българската лингводидактология

Dr. Botyu Shanov's German textbook is a contribution to historical studies of foreign language teaching in Bulgaria; it provides important evidence reflecting to a considerable extent the major problems of Bulgarian linguistic didactology in the first half of the 20th century and it can be interpreted with regard to the goals of numerous studies in the vein of modern linguistic didactology. The textbook comprises 33 lesson units which introduce students to “traditional” elementary level topics: the classroom and objects in everyday school life, color terms, some character traits, clothing, numbers, etc. The textbook also provides a general overview of basic elements of German grammar in the form of short unit notes.

Alcover, Moll i la llengua alemanya

This article presents two key figures of Catalan philology in a multiple perspective: Father Alcover and Francesc de B. Moll are tightly associated with the Catalan language, but one should bear in mind that they were also interested in the German language. Alcover learned German in order to communicate more fluently with the German-speaking Romanists of his time. He not only made Moll understand that he would need a knowledge of German for his philological career but also taught him German himself. Moll thus attained a good level of German, which allowed him to teach this language in high-school and to publish a learners’ grammar of German. The present paper focuses on the relation of these two eminent scholars with the German tongue. Their language-acquisition process and a closer look at the German grammars authored by Moll are object of the study, which intends to add some detail on a not too well known facet of these two Majorcan philologists.
 Keywords: Mossèn Alcover, Francesc de B. Moll, German language, German grammar, teaching of German.

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING GERMAN MODAL VERBS TO ECONOMICS STUDENTS

Modal verbs are an important chapter in learning German. The paper presents how the modal verbs are thought to the economics students in our university, emphasizing the common mistakes of the students and possible measures the teacher should take in order to diminish the number of learning mistakes. The first part of the paper deals with the theoretical background, thus being such a difficult subject for the Romanian student, the paper brings up even the conjunction differences on this subject, dealing with different verbal tenses in the German grammar. The second part of this paper presents a text full of modal verbs, in different tenses, the students are asked to recognize them. In the paper I will show the mistakes the students usually make and the proportion of the right answers at this task. The following part deals with different exercises, in order to conclude the mistakes and the proportion of the right answers at this challenge. The final part shows the conclusions of this study that reflects on the results of the conducted measurements. The modal verbs play an important role in facilitating an efficient and understandable communication pattern in the society and therefore, they form significant aspect in the human language. Modal verbs add to the text precision and clearance in its meaning.

PECULIARITIES OF THAT FLEXIBILITY OF THE GERMAN-UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION OF RELIGIOUS VOCABULARY

Objective. The objective of the article is to investigate the main translation strategies of structurally distant languages, namely the religious vocabulary of the German language, as well as to analyze the peculiarities and complexities of its German-Ukrainian translation. Methods. Solving the set tasks is carried out using such methods as analysis and generalization of scientific literature on the problems of translation studies; system and comparative analysis, and the continuous sampling technique is applied to collect language facts. Results. Studying the peculiarities and difficulties that arise in the process of translation from German to Ukrainian, and especially when working with religious vocabulary, it should be noted that a literal translation will often be incomprehensible due to the absence or lack of knowledge of one or another feature of German culture. Therefore, in order to avoid questions and misunderstandings, the translator must find an equivalent word, metaphor, proverb or saying, or a story that will evoke the same feelings and thoughts that the recipient receives when reading the original text. Issues of the importance of context and the peculiarities of German grammar also affect the quality of the translation. Therefore, the difference between German and Ukrainian culture, as well as religions, requires special skills of the translator and mastery of various translation tools. Phrases with a religious component, religious terms create additional difficulties in the process of translation, because sometimes it is very difficult to find an equivalent in the Ukrainian language, so a comprehensive translation is the best choice in this case. Having analyzed a number of religious terms from Duden explanatory dictionary, it can be concluded that the influence of the Latin language over the centuries on other languages caused a high number of equivalents of religious concepts in the Ukrainian and German languages. Therefore, in most cases, the selection of a direct analogue and adaptive transcoding is used in the process of translating religious vocabulary.

Структурно-полевой подход к синтаксической фразеологии русского языка. Часть 2

The paper deals with the problems of the structural field approach to the study of linguistic phenomena. The foundations for building a field theory in the grammatical structure of language were laid by V. G. Admoni in his works on the theoretical grammar of German. Effectively, the same approach can be applied to any language phenomena as it has a number of advantages over classifications involving the distribution of objects in the systems of level hierarchy. This paper demonstrates the advantages of the structural field approach and possibilities. The author’s aim is to study the field of syntactic phraseological phenomena (phraseme constructions), identifying its core, centre, periphery, and adjacent fields, as well as describing the advantages of this method of studying linguistic phenomena. Phraseme constructions belong to the linguistic system and occupy an important place in the grammar of constructions. They are constantly reproduced and filled in speech with concrete vocabulary, stable syntactic models retrieved from memory not elementally, but entirely, and having idiomatic character (the meaning of the filled model cannot be deduced if one does not know the structure of the model and its meaning even before any filling). The properties, namely: polyelementality, reproducibility, stable syntactic structure, idiomaticity and fillability in speech, are indispensable characteristics of the phenomenon described herein: deprived of at least one of them, a phraseological construction ceases to be one. However, phraseme constructions have a larger, typical set of characteristics. In this paper, they are considered from the perspective of an increase and decrease in these characteristics, which allows us to study phraseological constructions as a field whose structure is determined by multiple axes. The structural field approach frees scholars from the need to make clear distinctions between linguistic phenomena with similar functionality on different levels if they have several, divergent typical, basic features of its concrete application through the example of the field of syntactic phraseology.

Student Opinions about the Use of Their Native Language in German Grammar Lessons

Araştırmanın temel amacı Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana dili kullanılması üzerine öğrenci görüşlerine başvurmak ve bu doğrultuda Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana dili kullanımının gerekli olup olmaması yönünde bir bakış açısına ulaşmaktır. Bu çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden fenomolojik desen tercih edilmiş olup, Gazi Eğitim Fakültesi Alman Dili Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı birinci ve ikinci sınıflardan gönüllü on beş öğrenci ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme gerçekleşmiştir. İlgili öğrencilere toplamda yedi soru sorulmuştur. Verilerin analizinde NVivo 12 programından yararlanılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler ilgili programa aktarılarak kategoriler ve alt kategoriler oluşturulmuştur. Öğrenci görüşlerinden elde edilen verilere göre, Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana dili kullanımının önemli bir etkisi olduğu dikkat çekmiştir. Söz konusu olumlu öğrenci görüşleri kapsamında Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana dili kullanımının öğrenciler tarafından desteklendiği görülmektedir. Bazı öğrenciler Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana dili kullanımının hedef dile maruz kalmayı engellediğini düşünerek ilgili dilde pratik yapamadıklarını dile getirirmiştir. Yabancı dil derslerinde ana dili kullanımının bazı olumsuz özelliklerinin olmasına rağmen dil bilgisi derslerinde ana diline başvurulması dil bilgisi konularının anlaşılırlığını arttırdığı öğrenci görüşleri doğrultusunda tespit edilmiştir. Almanca dil bilgisi derslerinde ana diline başvurulmasıyla birlikte öğrencilerin ana dil ve hedef dil arasında karşılaştırma yapma imkânı buldukları, iki dil arasındaki benzerlikleri ve farklılıkları gördükleri, dil bilgisi konularını ana dillerinde daha iyi anlayabildikleri yapılan araştırma sonucunda dikkat çekmektedir.

THE BOY APPEARING (AS) THE SISTER: GENDER AND SILENCE IN GEORG TRAKL*

ABSTRACTThe present text is concerned with figures of unusual gender in two poetic texts by Georg Trakl, namely ‘Traum und Umnachtung’ and ‘Ruh und Schweigen’, each of which features the same violation of German grammar at a crucial point. The first text starts and ends with a scene of a boy recognising his sister's image in the mirror, which will be read as a specular identification that transgresses the norms of gender assignment. This transgression will be further illuminated by Lee Edelman's No Future, a text that analyses the need of the heterosexual family to reproduce itself unchanged, and Jacques Lacan's concept of the mirror stage which discusses specular identification as a prerequisite for the possibility of speech. In reading ‘Ruh und Schweigen’, the issue of silence, which is both thematised and performed by the poem, will come to the forefront. The bi‐gender figure appearing in the last lines will be understood as being dependent on this silence to appear, contrasting the way the protagonist of ‘Traum und Umnachtung’ is silenced by his family. Both these figures will therefore be read as transgressing against related, though not identical, norms of gender in ways that can only be expressed in a poetical language.

From the History of German Terminology: Umlaut

The article described the early history of the linguistic term Umlaut in the terminological system of the German language. The study relied on the methods of historical, linguistic, definitional, and semantic analyses. The research covered German grammars, grammatical treatises, and dictionaries published in Germany between the early XVI century and the mid XIX century. The author traced the early evolution of the phonetic status of umlaut from a diphthong to a semi-diphthong: it was often believed to be a combination of two mutually pronounced sounds. In the first half of the XVII century, the status of umlaut began to change. T. Olearius (1630) referred umlauts to simple sounds. However, T. Olearius was not supported by his contemporaries. J. Schottel (1641) ascertained the ability of umlaut to realise a distinctive function. In spite of this, umlaut remained a diphthong up to the last quarter of the XVIII century. The term Umlaut was introduced into linguistic usage only in 1774 by F. Klopstock, who understood it as any change of the root vowels, regardless of the reasons for this alternation. The final status of the umlaut was determined when linguists came to the unequivocal conclusion that umlauts were simple vowels that required a single articulatory effort to be realized in speech. The author also analysed the five ways of umlaut graphics, as well as the names that denoted the diacritical marks. Umlaut received its final terminological status from J. Grimm in 1819.

Структурно-полевой подход к синтаксической фразеологии русского языка. Часть I

The paper deals with the problems of the structural-field approach to the study of linguistic phenomena. The foundations for building a field theory in the grammatical structure of language were laid by V. G. Admoni in his works on the theoretical grammar of German. Effectively, the same approach can be applied to any language phenomenon as it has a number of advantages over classifications involving the distribution of objects in systems of level hierarchy. The paper demonstrates the advantages and possibilities of the structural-field approach. It aims at studying the field of syntactic phraseological phenomena (phraseme constructions), identifying its core, centre, periphery, and adjacent fields. Phraseme constructions belong to the linguistic system and occupy an important place in construction grammar. They are constantly reproduced in spoken language and filled in with concrete vocabulary. They are stable syntactic models of idiomatic character that are retrieved from memory as whole entities rather than by separate units (the meaning of a filled model cannot be deduced without prior knowledge of its structure and its semantics per se). The properties, namely polyelementality, reproducibility, stable syntactic structure, idiomaticity, fillability in speech, are indispensable characteristics of the phenomenon described herein: deprived of at least one of them, a construction ceases to be a phraseme. However, phraseme constructions have a larger, typical set of characteristics. In this paper, they are viewed from the perspective of an increase and decrease of these characteristics, making the study of phraseological constructions as a field whose structure is determined by multiple axes possible. The structural-field approach waives the need to make clear distinctions between linguistic phenomena with similar functionality at different levels. The use of the field approach and its methodological advantages are explained through the example of the field of syntactic phraseology.

The Role of Grammar in Teaching Foreign Languages

In the teaching of foreign languages, after all the attempts and reforms, the understanding has been increasingly strengthened that without reliable linguistic knowledge it is impossible to achieve strong linguistic communication skills, which were considered the goal of teaching foreign languages, and that grammatical skills play an important role in the development of language skills. The role of grammar in teaching foreign languages is ambiguous. Grammar skills are equally important for speaking, writing, reading and listening. Grammar is a language stimulant. It generates meaning through relationships between lexical items. In this paper, we will try to show through theory all the possibilities of conducting a lesson with the maximum study of grammar, as well as to imagine how this actually happens in practice. We investigate which method is more often used in classes on the grammar of German as a foreign language. Particular attention is paid to deductive and inductive methods.

Мястото на Немската граматика на проф. Константин Гълъбов в университетската литература

The article examines the first academic German grammar (1950) in Bulgaria, written by the founder of the Department of German Studies at Sofia University Prof. Konstantin Galabov. Information is given both about the conditions under which the grammar was created and about some basic German grammars published in Bulgaria in the period between 1868 and 1944.

The term tire (dash) in historical-linguistic and lexicographic retrospective

The article is devoted to the study of the Russian term tire (‘dash’) and its parallel names in historiographical, etymological, semantic, functional and lexicographic aspects. The research is based on textual and lexicographic sources dating from the 18th to the 20th century, that allow us to establish the chronology of the term semantics and appearance of its parallel names. The purpose of the article is to clarify and systematize historiographical and etymological information about the term tire, to perform the historical-linguistic analysis of its semantics and functions, starting with the appearance of the first Russian grammars containing elements of a scientific approach to the coverage of linguistic facts. The article uses methods of historical-linguistic, definitional, etymological, semantic and lexicographic analysis. The dash in the function of the sign replacing the omitted parts of the utterance is found in Russian grammatical sources as early as the mid-1840s, but this sign itself does not yet have a name in this period. The terminological nomination tire, which is understood as a punctuation mark, presumably appears for the first time in 1802 in A German Grammar of I. Geym. The first lexicographic recording of the term is fixed in A Pocket book for lovers of reading Russian books… by I. Renovans and is dated 1837, however, in this case it is only about fixing the plan of term expression, but not the plan of its content, since Renovans understands the hyphen as a dash. The plan of term expression and the plan of its content begin to be unambiguously correlated in lexicographic sources, apparently, only in 1863, when in the dictionaries of K. Reif and V. Dahl, the dash in the functional-semantic aspect ceases to be associated with the outwardly similar hyphen. In scientific and theoretical sources, however, confusion continues to take place. The synonymous series including various names of the dash (molchanka as a silence sign, small line, stop sign, line, thought-separating sign) is formed in the period from 1786 to 1831. The term dvoynoye tire (‘double dash’), judging by the results of the study, first occurs in 1902 in the work by A. Pridik, and not in 1955, as previously thought.

НАВЧАННЯ СТУДЕНТІВ-ГЕРМАНІСТІВ ГРАМАТИКИ НІМЕЦЬКОЇ МОВИ (ІНФІНІТИВНИХ КОНСТРУКЦІЙ) ЗА ТЕХНОЛОГІЄЮ "ПЕРЕВЕРНУТИЙ КЛАС"

Background. The mastery of grammar is a crucial aspect of the communicative competence of German Philology students. Therefore, there is a pressing need to identify efficient grammar teaching methodologies. One such approach is the "Flipped Class" technology that employs a combination of interactive classes and selfdirected learning to enhance students' grammar proficiency in speaking and listening. This approach also fosters students' independence and critical thinking abilities, as they are required to not only do grammar exercises but also plan educational activities, search for relevant literature, and assess their own educational progress. Purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical basis for, develop, and test the effectiveness of the "Flipped Class" technology in building grammatical competence in German Philology students' speaking skills. Results and discussion. The "flipped class" technology for teaching German grammar optimizes and rationalizes the allocation of time between independent and classroom work while creating individual trajectories of acquiring grammar knowledge and skills. This technology enables students to improve their language grammar skills and speech grammar skills in listening during independent work, while primary grammar skills and language skills, as well as reproductive grammatical skills in speaking, are developed during the classroom session. In addition, it allows students to develop learning autonomy and reflection. The use of this technology involves eight stages, where students do sets of grammar exercises and tasks, as well as tasks for the application of educational tactics and reflection. The results of the approbation show that the level of grammatical knowledge and skills of most students who studied infinitive constructions using the above-mentioned technology was higher than their average level of success.

Exploring the Promoting Effect of English Knowledge on German Grammar Teaching: Taking Infinitive Structure as an Example

Exploring the Promoting Effect of English Knowledge on German Grammar Teaching: Taking Infinitive Structure as an Example