Diachronic linguistics

The diachronic group integrates Ph.D. students whose dissertations reflect Czech from the viewpoints of etymology, historical linguistics, onomastics and dialectology. The work of this group focuses on points of contact of these linguistic disciplines, stressing linguistic phenomena linked with changes and variations in language, with their causes, linguistic as well as extralinguistic, with their spread in social and territorial respect. Language is treated here not only as a system sui generis, but also as a tool of communication and identification of a social structure. The group meets regularly every two weeks, its programme is divided between lectures of invited guests – experts dealing with some of the target research fields of the diachronic group and presentations of Ph.D. students – members of the group providing information on current results f their research. Discussions of members of the group are of key importance, providing Ph.D. students an opportunity to broaden their academic scope as well as to refine linguistic methodology.

Experts outside the Masaryk University lecturing in the seminar:

• Alena Černá
• Robert Dittmann
• Stanislava Kloferová
• Boris Lehečka
• Stefan M. Newerkla
• Miroslav Vepřek