Prof. Dr. Jörg Peters

Im niedersächsischen Saterland werden drei autochthone westgermanische Sprachen gesprochen: Saterfriesisch, Niederdeutsch und Hochdeutsch. Das Saterfriesische ist die einzige noch heute gesprochene Ausprägung des Ostfriesischen und zugleich eine der am stärksten bedrohten Minderheitensprachen Europas. Niederdeutsch und Hochdeutsch bilden die primären Kontaktsprachen des Saterfriesischen, die von den meisten älteren Sprechern des Saterfriesischen gesprochen werden. Gegenstand des DFG-Projekts, das im Oktober 2012 gestartet ist, sind segmentale und prosodische Aspekte der Vokalproduktion und  -perzeption im Saterfriesischen und in seinen beiden Kontaktsprachen. Es soll geklärt werden, (1) in welchem Maße die Vokale in den drei Sprachen regional variieren, (2) in welchem Maße sie zwischen dem Saterfriesischen und seinen Kontaktsprachen variieren, (3) ob sich der Vokalismus des Saterfriesischen in einem Wandelprozess befindet, und (4) welche Rolle die Grundfrequenz für die Vokaldifferenzierung spielt. Hierzu werden Produktions- und Perzeptionsexperimente durchgeführt, die die drei Ortsdialekte des Saterfriesischen, seine Kontaktsprachen sowie Sprecher zweier Altersgruppen einbeziehen. 

Three autochthonous West Germanic languages are spoken in Saterland in Lower Saxony: Saterland Frisian, Low German and High German. Saterland Frisian is the only variety of East Frisian still spoken today and is also one of the most endangered minority languages in Europe. Low German and High German are the primary contact languages of Saterland Frisian, spoken by most of the older speakers of Saterland Frisian. The subject of the DFG project, which started in October 2012, deals with segmental and prosodic aspects of vowel production and perception in Saterland Frisian and its two contact languages. The aim is to clarify (1) the extent to which vowels vary regionally across the three languages, (2) the extent to which they vary between Saterland Frisian and its contact languages, (3) whether the vocalism of Saterland Frisian is undergoing a process of change, and (4) the role of fundamental frequency in vowel differentiation. To this end, production and perception experiments will be conducted involving the three local dialects of Saterland Frisian, its contact languages, and speakers of two different age groups.

Prof. Dr. Juliana Goschler

As a local project leader Prof. Dr. Juliana Goschler is currently involved in a Lower Saxony-wide development project that aims to integrate the topics of German as a second language as well as language training into the teaching degree programs of all subjects. In Oldenburg, model courses and materials are currently being developed for the degree programs in Business Education and Computer Science.

Prof. Dr. Cornelia Hamann

The proportion of children growing up multilingual is steadily increasing in the European Community. The aim of this project is to uncover possibilities for the identification of language development disorders that are independent of the respective language combinations and should therefore lead to the development of cross-linguistic procedures, as well as to new insights into the causes and characteristics of language development disorders.

Here you will find more information about the project as well as a flyer.

Dr. Rebecca Carroll

The aim of this research project is to investigate the role of different linguistic factors and processing in speech perception in acoustically difficult listening situations, as well as in hearing loss. In particular, it will be investigated to what extent the role of individual lexical knowledge and the role of access efficiency to the mental lexicon influence speech recognition in acoustically difficult listening situations. These investigations will help to identify linguistic and other cognitive factors as predictors or correlates of individual performance on speech perception tests. For this purpose, experiments with normal-hearing and hard-of-hearing subjects are planned.

Prof Dr. Nanna Fuhrhop

A set of spelling principles is assumed for word spelling in German; the spelling of German heritage words and early adopted loanwords is relatively well researched, so that from a sound chain the spelling of the native vocabulary can be deduced in about 95% of all cases on the basis of the intertwining principles.

An analogous system is to be developed for English. It is to be expected that the levels which play a role in German will also be found in English. However, they are by no means to be translated one-to-one. The concrete formations of the principles and their interaction in English are to be confronted with those in German. Whereas in German a relatively linear mode of action of the various known writing principles forms the basis, in English a network is likely to emerge. It is to be expected that new principles will be added in English, which in turn will have to be examined for German as well. Knowledge of how principles work will continue to deepen, and the theory and terminology of graphematics can be expanded.