How to start a V2 declarative clause: Transfer of syntax vs. information structure in L2 German

This paper discusses V2 word order and information structure in Swedish, German and non-native German. Concentrating on the clause-initial position of V2 declaratives, the ‘prefield’, we investigate the extent of L1 transfer in a closely related L2. The prefield anchors the clause in discourse, and although almost any type of element can occur in this position, naturalistic text corpora of native Swedish and native German show distinct language-specific patterns. Certain types of elements are more common than others in clause-initial position, and their frequencies in Swedish differ substantially from German (subjects, fronted objects, certain adverbs). Nonnative cross-sectional production data from Swedish learners of German at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels are compared with native control data, matched for age and genre (Bohnacker 2005, 2006, Rosén 2006). The learners’ V2 syntax is largely targetlike, but their beginnings of sentences are unidiomatic. They have problems with the language-specific linguistic means that have an impact on information structure: They overapply the Swedish principle of “rheme later” in their L2 German, indicating L1 transfer at the interface of syntax and discourse pragmatics, especially for structures that are frequent in the L1 (subject-initial and expletive-initial clauses, and constructions with så (‘so’) and object det (‘it/that’))

Die DaF-Lehrerausbildung in Schweden – Zwischen Pädagogik, Fachstudium, Sprachdidaktik und Praxis

Seit mehreren Jahren geht in Schweden die Zahl der Lehramtsstudierenden in DaF stark zurück. Dabei ist jetzt ein drastischer Lehrermangel erkennbar, der sich auf Sicht noch verstärken wird, da es einen hohen Anteil an Deutschlehrern gibt, die bald im Rentenalter sind oder ihren Beruf wechseln. Für berufstätige Deutschlehrer gibt es außerdem nur wenige Chancen auf Fortbildung, was u.a. mit dem niedrigen Status der Fremdsprachen im schwedischen Schulwesen zusammenhängt. In diesem Beitrag nehmen wir die DaF-Lehrerausbildung in Schweden unter die Lupe. Wir gehen der Frage nach, welche Reibungsflächen es zwischen den verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen wie Pädagogik, Germanistik, Sprachdidaktik und der praktischen Ausbildung gibt, die in der DaF-Lehrerausbildung involviert sind. Wie ist der Lehrermangel zu erklären und welche Maßnahmen können zur Sicherung einer nachhaltigen Deutschlehrerkompetenz führen

Die DaF-Lehrerausbildung in Schweden – Zwischen Pädagogik, Fachstudium, Sprachdidaktik und Praxis

Seit mehreren Jahren geht in Schweden die Zahl der Lehramtsstudierenden in DaF stark zurück. Dabei ist jetzt ein drastischer Lehrermangel erkennbar, der sich auf Sicht noch verstärken wird, da es einen hohen Anteil an Deutschlehrern gibt, die bald im Rentenalter sind oder ihren Beruf wechseln. Für berufstätige Deutschlehrer gibt es außerdem nur wenige Chancen auf Fortbildung, was u.a. mit dem niedrigen Status der Fremdsprachen im schwedischen Schulwesen zusammenhängt. In diesem Beitrag nehmen wir die DaF-Lehrerausbildung in Schweden unter die Lupe. Wir gehen der Frage nach, welche Reibungsflächen es zwischen den verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen wie Pädagogik, Germanistik, Sprachdidaktik und der praktischen Ausbildung gibt, die in der DaF-Lehrerausbildung involviert sind. Wie ist der Lehrermangel zu erklären und welche Maßnahmen können zur Sicherung einer nachhaltigen Deutschlehrerkompetenz führen?For several years, the number of teacher students in German has dropped sharply in Sweden. At the same time, many German teachers are retiring or changing profession. For in-service German teachers there are so far only few chances for in-service teacher training, which could also be explained by the low status of foreign languages in the Swedish education system. At the same time, a huge shortage of teachers is already recognizable, which will only increase in near future. In this article, we take a close look at the language teacher education in Sweden. We examine the question of which areas of friction exist between the various scientific disciplines such as education, German studies, language didactics and practical training, involved in the German teacher education. What are the reasons for the lack of teachers in Swedish schools, and what measures can lead to securing a sustainable German teacher's competence

Natural products in modern life science

With a realistic threat against biodiversity in rain forests and in the sea, a sustainable use of natural products is becoming more and more important. Basic research directed against different organisms in Nature could reveal unexpected insights into fundamental biological mechanisms but also new pharmaceutical or biotechnological possibilities of more immediate use. Many different strategies have been used prospecting the biodiversity of Earth in the search for novel structure–activity relationships, which has resulted in important discoveries in drug development. However, we believe that the development of multidisciplinary incentives will be necessary for a future successful exploration of Nature. With this aim, one way would be a modernization and renewal of a venerable proven interdisciplinary science, Pharmacognosy, which represents an integrated way of studying biological systems. This has been demonstrated based on an explanatory model where the different parts of the model are explained by our ongoing research. Anti-inflammatory natural products have been discovered based on ethnopharmacological observations, marine sponges in cold water have resulted in substances with ecological impact, combinatory strategy of ecology and chemistry has revealed new insights into the biodiversity of fungi, in depth studies of cyclic peptides (cyclotides) has created new possibilities for engineering of bioactive peptides, development of new strategies using phylogeny and chemography has resulted in new possibilities for navigating chemical and biological space, and using bioinformatic tools for understanding of lateral gene transfer could provide potential drug targets. A multidisciplinary subject like Pharmacognosy, one of several scientific disciplines bridging biology and chemistry with medicine, has a strategic position for studies of complex scientific questions based on observations in Nature. Furthermore, natural product research based on intriguing scientific questions in Nature can be of value to increase the attraction for young students in modern life science

Stadsbor och bönder : materiell kultur och social status i Halland från medeltid till 1700-tal

Diss. Lund : Univ., 2004</p

"Warum klingt das nicht deutsch?" : Probleme der Informationsstrukturierung in deutschen Texten schwedischer Schüler und Studenten

This thesis deals with the information-structural problems native speakers of Swedish have when producing texts in German as their second or foreign language (L2). The study is based on written production data from Swedish learners of German at the initial state (14-year-olds), at intermediate level (16-year-olds) and at advanced level (20-25-year-olds). These data are compared with Swedish and German native control corpora, matched for age and text genre. Approximately 400 compositions collected 1999-2005 have been analyzed. The advanced L2 learners? productions have also been judged and commented on by 60 native German-speaking informants. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data are provided and the results are evaluated in light of current theories of language acquisition and information structure. The aim of the present study is to investigate in what way the information structure in L2 German deviates from that of native German (L1). It is hypothesized that learners transfer their language-specific L1 information structure to the new language. Since the initial position of the sentence, the socalled 'prefield' (Vorfeld), is of special importance in establishing textual coherence by anchoring the clause in discourse, the present study focuses on the prefield in declarative main clauses and the use of theme-rheme progression in the L2. Swedish and German are typologically and syntactically close. Both are V2-languages (SVO vs. SOV) with the finite verb in declarative main clauses in second position and thus only allow one clause element in the first position of the sentence. Although almost any type of element can occur in this position, my findings indicate that the first sentence position is used differently in Swedish and German. When comparing L1 German and L1 Swedish, language-specific patterns emerge. The results indicate that learners at all proficiency levels have problems with the acquisition of the languagespecific linguistic means that have an impact on information structuring, indicating L1 transfer in a domain other than pure syntax, especially concerning structures that are frequent in their L1 (as subject-initial clauses, clefts, fronted thematic objects (det/das 'this') and constructions with så/so 'so'). Not only do the learners have difficulties with mastering the language-specific information structure of the second language, but also with thematic progression in texts. Here the learners breach more general, and arguably universal, principles of discourse organisation, whereas they do not do so in their first language. Thus, for L2 learners it seems difficult to handle both universal and language-specific patterns of discourse organisation at the same time