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Degree programs

It is possible to study Indo-European Linguistics in Marburg as part of various degree programs.

  • Indo-European Linguistics (major subject or minor subject in the Combined Bachelor's degree)

    Since the winter semester 2022/23, it is possible to study Historical-Indo-European Linguistics as a major or minor subject as part of the Marburg Combined Bachelor's degree. In these two degree programs, the focus is on the oldest language stages of the Indo-European language family and their textual evidence. In addition to ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Hittite or Latin, students can also expect to study the phenomena of language change and development and the reconstruction of the unattested common “proto-language”, Proto-Indo-European.

    The major subject in the Combined Bachelor's  degree program provides for more intensive linguistic training and the acquisition of several Indo-European languages (beyond Sanskrit, Latin, Hittite), which form the basis for dealing with language comparison and reconstruction. Various options are available for specialization, e.g. in the Marburg specialization “Anatolian Languages”.

    In the minor subject in the Combined Bachelor's  degree program, a basic linguistic education is provided and students choose only one Indo-European basic language (Old Indic, Latin, Hittite, Ancient Greek), on the basis of which the methods of language comparison and reconstruction are learned. In the profile area, for example, a further Indo-European language can be chosen.

  • Hittitology (minor subject in a combined bachelor's degree)

    Since the winter semester 2023/24, it has been possible to study  Hittitology as a minor subject as part of the Marburg Combination Bachelor's degree. This minor focuses on the study of the Hittite language, literature and culture.

    Hittite is a language that was spoken and written down in what is now Turkey in the 2nd millennium BC. On the one hand, it is related to European languages (e.g. German, French, Greek, Latin) and Indo-Iranian (e.g. Hindi, Sanskrit, Farsi); on the other hand, it was written using the ancient oriental cuneiform script. The textual evidence and its study are also characterized by this combination of different traditions. Students study the language, the written heritage and the culture of one of the most important ancient states.

    A basic linguistic education is provided in the minor study program. Students then choose in the profile area whether they want to focus primarily on the development of Hittite culture and learn the associated methods or alternatively whether they want to study the history of the language and the texts and gain an insight into the methods of language comparison.

    Especially for students of historical-comparative linguistics, ancient oriental studies, ancient history and archaeological sciences, the minor subject Hittitology offers a very good supplement to the main subject.

    However, Hittitology is also suitable as a minor subject for other subjects in the combined Bachelor's degree that deal with ancient topics.

  • M.A. Indo-European Linguistics

    The subject of the Master's degree program in Indo-European Linguistics is the Indo-European language family. The aim of this discipline is to determine the relationship between the languages belonging to this language family and to gain insights into the differentiation processes that have led to the languages spoken today. Indo-European Linguistics focuses on the earliest tangible stages of the individual languages and attempts to record their linguistic evidence as precisely as possible, to describe the sound systems and grammatical structures in detail, to collect the vocabulary and to determine the meanings of the words. In addition to comprehensive training in Indo-European linguistics, Marburg also offers a specialization in Anatolian Studies (Hittitology) and linguistic typology.