Abteilung für Neuere Englische Sprache (Linguistik)

Human language forms the major key for understanding human thinking, culture and society. Since the most prominent feature of human language is the connection of some form – be it spoken or signed – with a particular meaning, studying a wide range of phenomena concerning the mapping between grammatical form and the meaning of sentences will therefore provide us with novel insights and a better understanding of human cognition.

The English Department offers a broad research and training program in English linguistics, especially focusing on the structure (syntax) and the meaning (semantics) and usage (pragmatics) of the language. Empirically, we are particularly interested in language variation, language acquisition (both first and second language acquisition) and language change.

The linguists at the English Department are integrated in the Linguistics in Göttingen (LinG) platform (see Research) and the university-broad language and cognition research program.