• The Conference
  • Home
  • Programme
  • Venue & directions
  • Organizing Committee
  • Scientific Committee
  • Exhibitors & sponsors
  • Satellite events
  • Conference Party
• Past & future
  • Previous symposia
  • Finland 2014
  • Spain 2016
• About FU Berlin
  • University homepage
  • Humanities at FU

Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 713

Part of Session 154: A tale of six cities (Other abstracts in this session)

German, English and Latin in modern Augusta Treverorum (Trier): A school project in linguistic landscapes

Authors: Kaliner, Jasmin (1); Wilton, Antje (2)
Submitted by: Kaliner, Jasmin (Friedrich-Woehler-Gymnasium Singen, Germany)

This paper reports on a school project which gives students of a German secondary school the opportunity to explore the public use and function of languages in a German city with a classical heritage.

The school project is part of an initiative to 1) foster cross-linguistic and cross-curricular cooperation and 2) introduce sociolinguistic topics into the language classroom in German secondary schools. Although cross-linguistic cooperation in the language classroom is mainly focused on modern foreign languages (Hufeisen & Lutjeharms 2005), the ELIK (Englisch- und Lateinunterricht in Kooperation, Doff & Kipf 2007) initiative specifically includes Latin as an important language in the language curriculum.

A close cooperation between English and Latin opens up the traditional range of topics to include a historical perspective in cooperative language teaching and learning. Furthermore, it provides the opportunity to integrate sociolinguistic issues in the language classroom (Denham & Lobeck 2010). The paper argues that the sociolinguistic study of linguistic landscapes (Auer 2010) is a suitable approach to help students to explore a city through its unique display of languages.

Trier (Augusta Treverorum) in south-west Germany is a city with a rich, ancient history as an important city in the Roman empire. This history is still visible and reflected in many remains of ancient buildings and sites. Together with modern German and increasingly also English signs, the extant Latin inscriptions present a multilingual environment that tells the modern visitor and language user about the variety of functions of written language in public spaces of the city's past and present. In the project, which is scheduled for March 2012, students prepare, conduct and evaluate an excursion to Trier which aims at documenting and analysing such language use.

The paper illustrates how, by documenting and analysing the occurrence of German, English and Latin on signs and inscriptions, students are made aware of the various and different functions of those languages in the city. On a general level, they are able to understand the specific relationships between sign and audience (or recipients) and the relevance of the materials and situatedness of signs. More particularly, students learn about the way in which the structures given to a particular space by the use of written language changes in the course of time and for different societies within the same city. Lastly, students are introduced to sociolinguistic research methods and linguistic analysis.

Auer, Peter (2010): Sprachliche Landschaften. Die Strukturierung des öffentlichen Raums durch die geschriebene Sprache. In: Deppermann, Arnulf & Linke, Angelika (eds.): Sprache Intermedial. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.

Denham, Kristin & Lobeck, Anne (2010): Linguistics at School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Doff, Sabine & Kipf, Stefan (2007): „When in Rome, do as the Romans do …“  Plädoyer und Vorschläge für eine Kooperation der Schulfremdsprachen Englisch und Latein. Pegasus-Onlinezeitschrift VII, 2, 1-14.

Hufeisen, Britta & Lutjeharms, Madeline (eds.) (2005): Gesamtsprachencurriculum - integrierte Sprachdidaktik - Common Curriculum : theoretische Überlegungen und Beispiele der Umsetzung. Tübingen: Narr.

Kulturstiftung Trier (2011): Inscriptiones Treverenses. Trier: Kulturstiftung Trier.