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Why study Indo-European Linguistics in Marburg

Are you interested in language(s) and their history of development? Have you ever noticed that some words are very similar in many European languages – e.g., those for the numbers 1 to 10? Do you want to find out which languages belong to the “Indo-European” language family and from which common proto-language they developed?

You can study Indo-European Linguistics (also known as “Comparative Philology”) in Marburg in several degree programs.

Advantages of studying Indo-European Linguistics in Marburg

Excellent supervision

Our degree programs are all very informal and there is close contact, both among students and with academics in the field. The supervision conditions for seminars are excellent, so that lecturers can respond individually to the respective levels of knowledge as well as to the interests of the course participants. If there are requests from the studentsfor specific language courses, we always try to organize these for one of the following semesters (e.g. Old English, Old Icelandic or Gothic are languages often requested).

Committed students

Although Indo-European Linguistics is one of the smaller fields, the students of the program organize themselves together with those of other smaller fields, such as Celtic Studies, in their own “Fachschaft” and are in close contact. We are proud of this community and enjoy “real” student life at the institute with celebrations, movie nights and joint activities.

In addition, the “Fachschaft” organizes an orientation and get-to-know-you program for first-year students every winter semester and is always there to answer all kinds of questions about studying and to help with problems.

Diverse topics

Indo-European Linguistics is also such an exciting subject to study because it is so diverse: on the one hand, you acquire theoretical knowledge about language and linguistic structures and learn how languages change and develop. On the other hand, you deal with many different ancient languages, e.g., Sanskrit, Latin or Hittite, and gain insights into the cultures of their speakers through the respective textual traditions. Students from different subjects often attend the courses so that the exchange across subject boundaries is also part of the rich experience in our program.

Focus on Anatolian

A special feature of Indo-European Linguistics in Marburg is its focus on ancient Anatolian languages. This branch of the Indo-European language family is attested by Hittite as early as the second millennium BC in what is now Turkey and provides a wealth of material for research, thanks to the numerous cuneiform tablets that have survived. Some of the most important research projects in Hittitology are carried out with the participation of researchers in Marburg so that experts can also share their specialist knowledge with our students in their courses and provide an insight into current research.