Dialect Research

The research unit Sprache in Südwestdeutschland (Language in Southwest Germany), headed by Hubert Klausmann, is located at the Ludwig Uhland Institute. It carries out large-scale research projects on dialects, which are supported by grants from the state Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. In so doing, the research unit carries forth a tradition of conducting research on southwest German dialects, that has been associated with cultural studies in Tübingen since the days of Karl Bohnenberger (1863-1951). Helmut Dölker (1904-1992) took over responsibility for conducting research on dialects at the Institute after Bohnenberger, to be followed in this capacity by Hermann Bausinger, who was the head of the Institute from 1960 to 1992. Initially working together with Arno Ruoff, Bausinger made the Institute’s first dialect recordings on tape. Bausinger focused on the tension between dialects and standard German, and Ruoff ultimately concentrated in his research projects primarily on the syntax and stylistics of spoken language. The audio documents are stored today in the Arno Ruoff Archives, which are located at the research unit for language in Tübingen. The documents are being digitalized and are utilized by researchers in both Linguistics and Cultural Studies.