NJ_G990 Dictionaries, Corpora and other Tools in German Studies

Faculty of Education
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/1/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 for the colloquium). Recommended Type of Completion: z (credit). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Tomáš Káňa, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Tomáš Káňa, Ph.D.
Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Helena Rytířová
Supplier department: Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of linguistics - first semester course Introduction into Linguistics
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 22 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course makes the students familiar with the most common dictionaries and grammar books of German as a foreign Language in Czechia. Further, it opens the corpus-driven approach to linguistics and helps them in selecting an appropriate corpus and gaining proper data for their needs in their future jobs (as linguists, interpreters, teachers etc.). One of the aims of the course is a critical approach to corpus data. A special attention is given to contrastive researches based on the parallel Corpus InterCorp.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course students can:
- name and use the latest dictionaries, Grammar books and homapages of German
- use the most important language corpora relevant for teaching and learning German as a foreign and second language;
- formulate (also CQL) queries according to different criteria;
- use corpus data for linguistic and didactic research and purposes.
Syllabus
  • Dictionaries - single and multiple language
  • Grammar books and Grammar homemages
  • The Corpus, Language corpus and electronic language corpus (a description)
  • Typology of corpora
  • one-language Corpora
  • parallel Corpora
  • Problematic fields of corpora (pro and contras)
  • the most important corpora of German (IDS, DWDS, Wortschatz - Leipzig)
  • The Czech National Corpus and the project “InterCorp”
  • Working with the "KonText" and "COSMAS II" corpus managers (main features)
Literature
    required literature
  • KÁŇA, Tomáš. Sprachkorpora in Unterricht und Forschung DaF/DaZ (Corpuses in Teaching and Researching German as a Foreign Language). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2014, 243 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6994-7. info
    recommended literature
  • Wichmann, Anne / Fligelstone Steven / McEnery Tony / Knowles Gerry [eds.]: Teaching and language corpora. London - New York: Longman; 1997. ISBN 0-582-27609-8 (Od Brna nejblíž dostupné v UB Wien.)
  • Český národní korpus :úvod a příručka uživatele. Edited by Jan Kocek - Marie Kopřivová - Karel Kučera. Vyd. 1. Praha: Filozofická fakulta UK - Ústav Českého národního korpusu, 2000, 156 s. ISBN 80-85899-94-9. info
Teaching methods
discussions on corpora – comparing their advantages and disadvantages; practical usage of corpora (work with different corpus manager); short papers on corpus driven researches (solving a linguistic problem)
Assessment methods
Credit/zápočet (2 ECTS): for a written test (20 min.) at the end of term (pass rate 60%), solving a linguistic problem (presentation or discussion).

Colloquium (4 ECTS): for a submission of a short paper (10-15 pages) on a small linguistic research.

Náhradní absolvování
Follow the interactive syllabus for combined studies, regular consultations via e-mail or MS-Teams; final test in an alternative term, or submission of the seminar paper before the end of the individual study plan
Language of instruction
German
Study support
https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/ped/jaro2025/NJ_G990/seminar_02.qwarp?fakulta=1441;obdobi=9465;kod=NJ_G990;predmet=1585326;zuv=1347147
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Note related to how often the course is taught: každý druhý týden v kombinované formě.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 6 hodin v kombinované formě.
Teacher's information
Please take your NB or tablet with you. You´ll need it for working with electronic dictionaries and corpora.

Support for learning and self-reflection for combined learners takes place during regular contact hours. Outside of these times, learners have the opportunity to contact the tutor at any time via e-mail or MS-Teams.

The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2025/NJ_G990