This seminar will focus on historical lexical semantics which can be broadly defined as the study of how the meaning of words changes over long periods of time. An understanding of the forces that lie behind such changes can only be achieved by taking the respective cultural and historical contexts into consideration. In addition we will also include comparative aspects by investigating the meaning of etymologically related words in German and English, trying to find explanations for contemporary semantic differences. Of course student will also be made familiar with relevant semantic theories, predominantly structural semantics and cognitive semantics.
A reader with relevant material will be made available at the beginning of the term. |
