German Language and Literature

The bachelor's degree program German Language and Literature is split into three focus areas: modern German literature, German medieval studies and German linguistics. This program offers students the opportunity to study the full academic breadth of German literature and linguistics.

Modern German literature explores German-language literature and its history from the early modern period to the present day (1600 to the present). Given the department’s focus on cultural studies, questions from the field of media studies and interdisciplinary collaboration with other departments are also an important part of this degree program.

German medieval studies, by contrast, explore the beginnings of German-language literature in the Middle Ages as well as in the early modern period (800 to 1600). In particular, the goal of this focus area is to make texts from this period comprehensible in all their cultural-historical depth and also to give students language competence and a feel for the language of this period.

German linguistics is the study of the German language in all its facets: contemporary German, but also the earlier stages of its evolution such as Old German, Middle German, and Early New High German. Objects of linguistic study include for example the historical language change, norms and rules, and deviations and variations which can be regional, age-group specific, or due to multilingualism. Areas of special linguistic focus at the University of Bonn are morphosyntax, language change, conversation analysis, and text linguistics.

This subject must be combined with a second subject. 

Possible lines of work:

Education (adult education, language courses, educational/vocational institutes Bildungswerke, etc.), book industry (publishing/ libraries/ translating/ editing), culture (cultural institutions, embassies, exhibitions, etc.), media (press, radio, television, online media, journalism, public relations), administration (international relations, e.g. diplomatic service, international organizations), academia (research management, teaching/research at universities, research institutions, etc.)