German Language and Literature

The aim of the study of German Language and Literature is to develop and deepen the knowledge and skills the students received in the previous studies, especially with respect to the philologic reflexion of language and literature in the broader context of history and culture.

Students will focus on the broader context of the relevant disciplines in German studies; these include wider diachronous aspects of linguistic research, a more advanced level of syntax, lexicology, and stylistics; in literary criticism the students will get deeper insight into modern and contemporary literature and into the methodology of literary scholarship, as well as an awareness of the wider context of literature and the place of German literature within it.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• o use linguistic competence in conjunction with rhetorical-presentation skills for cultivated expression
• to identify and explain complex language phenomena in texts
• to analyze the text, taking into account stylistic, communicative pragmatic aspects
• to perform a comprehensive analysis of the literary work, including in the cultural and social context and the genre traditions
• identify and explain characteristic tendencies in the current language
• to gain insight into the problems and methods of selected specialized linguistic disciplines (semantics, onomastics, phraseology, etc.)
• identify and use relevant corpus or database linguistic data for specific tasks
• to follow current issues and concepts of literary theory
• to get a more detailed overview of the literary formations of selected distinct areas
• to understand the genre specifics of older literary epochs
• to identify and characterize forms, circumstances and manifestations of language contacts
• to observe the social anchoring of literary works in different epochs,
• to follow the chosen concepts of cultural theory and to assess their overlaps to literary science

Graduates with this degree are qualified for expert and language-oriented jobs in companies and institutions, in publishing houses and various branches of the media, and in archives, libraries, museums, theatres, and travel agencies, as language experts and alternatively in diplomacy.

Practical training is not an obligatory part of the study plan. Selected project-oriented facultative courses offer opportunities for the students to train in the practical usage of theoretical knowledge and develop further praxis-related skills.

The master's thesis is a systematic elaboration of a given topic based on an individual evaluation and assessment of relevant secondary literature and other sources. It is not required to have the character of original primary research, it may be based on published titles and utilise available methods in accordance with the assignment (specific requirements are to be formulated by the supervisor). Students demonstrate the ability to independently treat the given scholarly topic using appropriate resources and competently utilising established methods; furthermore, they demonstrates the language fluency and reliable handling of form and style standards of scholarly publications; more generally, they show the ability of critical evaluation of information, an independent argumentation and presentation of the gathered knowledge.

The minimum extent of the master's thesis is 120 000 characters (including footnotes and bibliography; the treatment of the annexes is decided individually by the supervisor).

After completion of the Master’s study programme, it is possible to continue further studies in the doctoral degree study programme in Philology.