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Project C1 - Dynamics and stability of regiolect boundaries

PI and Ko-PI: Prof. Dr. A. Lameli und Dr. B. Ganswindt

Research Context

The modern regiolects (resp. “colloquial languages”) have their historical origin in the different types of Regional High German. Before the standardization of pronunciation for the stage (1898) the historical prestigious variety was the only form of oral Standard German. Nowadays, the recent regiolects dominate the everyday communication in Germany, nevertheless the systematic study of regiolect boundaries has only just begun. The cognitive representations have not yet been explored.

Dissertation projects in C1 seek to attract students with interests and prior knowledge in Phonology, Prosody, Variational linguistics, Perception linguistics, and Neurolinguistics.

Possible topics:

• Perception of regiolect boundaries
  How do the historical dialect boundaries and the objective-linguistic differences in standard-based speaking relate to the perceptual relevance of regiolect boundaries?
• Cognitive relevance of regiolect boundaries
  Which physiological brain processes are associated with the dynamics und stability of regiolect boundaries?