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Language Dynamics

Language as a cultural asset: Whether spoken or written - language shapes the way we live together. At the same time, it is enormously diverse and constantly changing. The scientific understanding of language has long been one of Marburg's research priorities.

The University of Marburg is home to one of the oldest linguistic research centers of all - the Research Center Deutscher Sprachatlas. Its special features are maps of language geography and sound recordings depicting German-language dialects through the ages.

Using psycho- and neuro-linguistic methods, the scientists also demonstrate how the brain processes language and they investigate the dynamics and stability of linguistic representations.

They have explored why we trust people who speak the same dialect more and what grammar has to do with spatial perception.

In a long-term project, Marburg Medieval Philology is dedicated to collecting all German-language manuscripts of the Middle Ages and making them available to the public. The documents are scattered all over the world and are often only preserved as fragments. They are important witnesses to the emergence of the modern age.