Emergence and transfer of register patterns: Situational-functional parameters of intra-individual variation in the writings of Martin Luther and Johannes Bretke (B04)

• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 416591334

Project B04 investigates register variation in the Early Modern context of the Reformation, when religious and other writing and printing expanded dramatically. We will model register emergence and transfer, focusing on the intraindividual register knowledge of two prolific individuals central to the development of German and Lithuanian respectively: Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Johannes Bretke (1536–1602). We will analyze linguistic, particularly grammatical and lexical phenomena in varied historical registers. Methodologically, the project combines a bottom-up approach based on individual linguistic phenomena with a top-down approach clustering parameters to arrive at a register classification.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1412: Register: Language-Users’ Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation
• Applicant Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Karin Donhauser, until 12/2023; Privatdozentin Dr. Anna Helene Feulner; Professor Dr. Jürg Fleischer; Professorin Dr. Muriel Norde, until 12/2023; Privatdozent Dr. Lars Erik Zeige