Campuses:

OneStop myU

University Catalogs

Twin Cities campus

This is archival data. This system was retired as of August 21, 2023 and the information on this page has not been updated since then. For current information, visit catalogs.umn.edu.

Twin Cities Campus

German Studies B.A.

German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch

College of Liberal Arts

Students will no longer be accepted into this program after Fall 2012. Program requirements below are for current students only.
The German Studies B.A. is being replaced with the German, Scandinavian, Dutch B.A. in spring 2013. Please see the catalog page for the German, Scandinavian, Dutch B.A. for more information about specific degree requirements.

Program Type: Baccalaureate
Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2013
Required credits to graduate with this degree: 120
Required credits within the major: 31
Degree: Bachelor of Arts

The major in German studies includes the study of the spoken language, as well as the literature, philology, and culture of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The department also offers a major and minors in Scandinavian languages, a minor in Dutch, and a minor in Austrian and Central European studies. The department recommends study abroad in a German-speaking country for at least six months in order to acquire cultural familiarity and language fluency. Students may apply appropriate coursework to a German studies major or a German minor. The University is affiliated with exchange programs in Berlin and Freiburg for both one- and two-semester stays. There are also possibilities for study at many other German, Austrian, and Swiss universities. Visit the Learning Abroad Center website at www.umabroad.umn.edu for more information.

Program Delivery

This program is available:

via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)

Admission Requirements

For information about University of Minnesota admission requirements, visit the Office of Admissions website.

General Requirements

All students in baccalaureate degree programs are required to complete general University and college requirements including writing and liberal education courses. For more information about University-wide requirements, see the liberal education requirements. Required courses for the major, minor or certificate in which a student receives a D grade (with or without plus or minus) do not count toward the major, minor or certificate (including transfer courses).

Program Requirements

Students are required to complete 4 semester(s) of German. with a grade of C-, or better, or S, or demonstrate proficiency in the language(s) as defined by the department or college.

The major in German studies consists of a minimum of 31 credits in 3xxx, 4xxx, and 5xxx courses. All courses in the major must be taken A-F and completed with a C- or better. At least two courses must be taken in the German program at the University of Minnesota. The major program must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies.

Major Core Courses

GER 3011W - Conversation and Composition [WI] (4.0 cr)

GER 3104W - Reading and Analysis of German Literature [LITR, WI] (3.0 cr)

GSD 3511W - Vikings, Knights, and Reformers: German and European Culture and Controversies to 1700 [WI] (3.0 cr)

GSD 3512W - Imagined Communities: German and European, Culture and Controversies, 1700 to Present [WI] (3.0 cr)

Major Project

The major project is a substantial paper of approximately 20 typed pages. The paper is prepared in the Major Project Seminar (GSD 3451W or 3451V) with the guidance and supervision of a faculty member. Please note: This seminar is offered fall semester only.

GSD 3451W - Major Project Seminar [WI] (3.0 cr)

or GSD 3451V - Honors Major Project Seminar [WI] (3.0 cr)

Emphasis Areas

Literature, Culture, and Society Emphasis

Up to two courses in this emphasis may be GER 36xx, 46xx, 56xx courses if substantial work in German is done by the student, as directed by the instructors of the courses or by the director of undergraduate studies. One elective can be a course outside the German department, as long as the course includes sufficient coverage of German-speaking areas.

Take 15 or more credit(s) from the following:

· GER 3xxx

· GER 4xxx

· GER 5xxx

-OR-

Linguistics and Philology Emphasis

Take 5 or more course(s) from the following:

Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:

· LING 3001 - Introduction to Linguistics [SOCS] (4.0 cr)

· LING 3001H - Honors: Introduction to Linguistics [SOCS] (4.0 cr)

· LING 3601 - Historical Linguistics (3.0 cr)

· LING 5001 - Introduction to Linguistics (4.0 cr)

· LING 5601 - Historical Linguistics (3.0 cr)

· Take 4 or more course(s) from the following:

· GER 3701 - History of the German Language (3.0 cr)

· GER 3702 - Beginning Middle High German (3.0 cr)

· GER 3704 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

· GER 5711 - History of the German Language I (3.0 cr)

· GER 5712 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

· GER 5722 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

· GER 5731 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

· GER 5732 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

· GER 5734 - Old Saxon (3.0 cr)

· GER 5740 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)

Program Sub-plans

A sub-plan is not required for this program.

Honors UHP

This is an honors sub-plan.

Students admitted to the University Honors Program (UHP) must fulfill UHP requirements in addition to degree program requirements. Honors courses used to fulfill degree program requirements will also fulfill UHP requirements. Current departmental honors course offerings are listed at: http://www.honors.umn.edu/academics/curriculum/dept_courses_current.html Honors students complete an honors thesis project in the final year, most often in conjunction with an honors thesis course, or with an honors directed studies or honors directed research course. Students select honors courses and plan for a thesis project in consultation with their UHP adviser and their departmental faculty adviser.

View college catalog(s):
· College of Liberal Arts

View sample plan(s):
· German Studies

View checkpoint chart:
· German Studies B.A.

View PDF Version:

German Studies B.A.

Search Programs

Search University Catalogs

College of Liberal Arts

TC Undergraduate Admissions

TC Undergraduate Application

One Stop
for tuition, course registration, financial aid, academic calendars, and more

Twin Cities Campus:

LING 3001 - Introduction to Linguistics (SOCS)

Credits:	4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ling 3001/3001H/5001
Typically offered:	Every Fall, Spring & Summer

The ability to acquire and use language is a biological trait of the human species. This capacity for language manifests itself as thousands of particular languages spoken around the world in communities large and small. But what is language? What does it mean for a human to ?know? a particular language? How do children acquire this knowledge? How do we use language to communicate? These are some of the important questions addressed by the field of linguistics, the scientific study of the human capacity for language in its physiological, cognitive, historical, and social manifestations. This course introduces some of the essential findings of linguistics: first and foremost, that all varieties of all languages are intricately structured at multiple distinct but related levels. Second, that this intricate structure can be described in terms that are not only precise, but which apply to all human languages. We will work to replicate some of these findings by deploying simple analytical methods on data from a variety of languages. These methods allow us to answer questions about the different structural components of language: phonology (how do speech sounds pattern?), morphology (what are possible words and how are they built?), and syntax (what is the hierarchical structure underlying sequences of words?). In all instances these methods require that we pay attention to basic notions of semantics, from which more complex conceptions of meaning will emerge. Having characterized language as an intricately-structured system of knowledge, we will then possess the tools to ask a number of additional questions about language and cognition. How does such complex knowledge play into the actual task of sentence production or comprehension? What do we know about the neural implementation of this knowledge in human brains? How does child language acquisition proceed, and what makes it so much more robust than language acquisition later in life? Do animals have languages of their own? Can they learn human languages? Finally, we will turn our attention to variation in language patterns observed over the passage of time, across geographical space, and within social systems. How and why do languages change over historical time? What can we know about languages spoken before the invention of writing? What distinctions exist between languages spoken in different places, and how can we tell whether similarities are due to genealogical relationships? How do new languages emerge? How do languages disappear? How does language use vary between individuals from the same place or the same community? How do socioeconomic class, ethnicity, and gender relate to the linguistic behavior of individuals? How does language policy affect educational outcomes? What about social cohesion and conflict? Although we will find that most of these questions lack definitive answers, we will develop an understanding of what it takes to ask them meaningfully and precisely. In particular, we will be able to eliminate false or misleading answers, especially when they fail to take into account the observable and describable properties of the human capacity for language.

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered:	Every Fall, Spring & Summer