Compound Terms in German: A Contribution to the Teaching of German for Specific Purposes (law)

Authors

  • Minka B. Pickbrenner NELE (Núcleo de Ensino de Línguas em Extensão) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Deutsch Stunde – Aulas de Alemão, Porto Alegre, Brasil

Keywords:

German for reading proficiency, teaching of reading, noun compounds, Contract Law

Abstract

This study describes the incidence and the role of noun compounds in German legal texts. Acknowledging regularities, singularities, functions and occurrences of compound terms composed of two or more nouns in papers of Civil Law Doctrines, this study detects data that can be applied to classes of German for reading proficiency. Guidelines for the description of the three texts that compose the corpus are outlined. Corpus description highlights nominal compounds found in the texts. Our study concludes that compounds perform a relevant cohesive function throughout the text. Finally, we outline some suggestions to improve classes of German for reading proficiency targeted at legal texts, taking advantage of the role of compound nouns.

Author Biography

Minka B. Pickbrenner, NELE (Núcleo de Ensino de Línguas em Extensão) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Deutsch Stunde – Aulas de Alemão, Porto Alegre, Brasil

Minka B. Pickbrenner graduated in Languages (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 2001) and has an MA from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 2006 (Research Line: Text and Discourse Theories). Areas of interest and expertise: Reading Proficiency in German, Teaching of Reading, Nominal Compounds in German.

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Issue

Vol. 29 (2008): Especial

Section

Papers

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