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Nicola McLelland

Associate Professor in German, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

I studied German and French at the University of Sydney, Australia, where, after studying for two years in Bonn, Germany, I also gained my PhD in medieval German literature. After an MPhil in linguistics at the University of Cambridge, I developed my current interest in the history of people's ideas and beliefs about language, especially German. My first post was at Trinity College, Dublin; I've been in the German department at Nottingham since 2005.

My main area of research is the history of ideas about langauge, especially the history of German grammar and language education. In 2011 I am working on a part- AHRC-funded project "German Through English Eyes", writing the history of textbooks of German for English speakers. The project documents textbooks of German from 1850 to 2000, and investigates the representation of the German language to generations of British school pupils in these works, as well as the representation of the cultures of the German-speaking countries; and representations of the tumultuous history of Germany over the past century or so.

My other research interests include: narrative technique in German medieval literature (the subject of my PhD), and sociolinguistic theory: language standardization, codeswitching theory, language and gender, and linguistic purism.

Expertise Summary

My first book, Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet. Narrative style and entertainment (2000), argued that the neat paradigm of fall-from-grace and redemption assumed to underlie 13th-century romances is not universal. Instead, Ulrich - like others of the period - showcases a flawless hero while deliberately varying narrative style across episodes. My study also provided the first investigation of the key concept of saelde ("luck") in Lanzelet. I continue to publish occasionally on medieval German literature, most recently on Ulrich von Liechtenstein's Frauendienst, an early sort of knightly autobiography, and on one of the classic texts of Middle High German literature, Hartmann von Aue's Iwein (ca. 1200).

After my PhD, I completed an MPhil in Linguistics at Cambridge, and this spurred the second and now principal strand in my research: the history of linguistic ideas in Germany. I have published widely on early modern works on German grammar, with a special interest in Schottelius, the author of the first major theoretical grammar of German (my book on Schottelius is appearing in 2011). I see grammars of this period as text-types that are the result of an inventive (not merely descriptive or prescriptive!) process, as I have shown taking the grammars of Albertus and Ölinger as examples. My work on Schottelius and others has shown how grammarians' cultural-patriotic agenda is reflected both explicitly in their rhetoric, and implicitly in how they present the grammar of German. This has led me to investigate pedagogical approaches to German in the late medieval and early modern period.

Finally, my research impinges on various areas of sociolinguistic theory. Jointly with Andrew Linn (Sheffield), I edited a volume Standardization. Studies from the Germanic Languages (2002), based on our international conference. Our pioneering comparative approach to sociolinguistic questions across the Germanic languages has since been adopted by colleagues (Nils Langer and others) for two further international conferences. In article which emerged from investigating Schottelius's use of Latin and German, published in the International Journal of Bilingualism, I argued for a modification of an influential theory of codeswitching. I have also worked on gender and discourse analysis, and showed that gender yields surprisingly few differences in discourse practice in 19th century German migrants' letters, suggesting that apparent gender differences in directness and politeness strategies today may correlate with particular roles adopted by the genders in post-industrial western society. I am also interested in the application of the theoretical notions of linguistic purism and linguistic nationalism to the Germanic languages.

Teaching Summary

I teach German linguistics across the board, from the early history of the Germanic languages to current developments in German speech and grammar, as well as German sociolinguistics, including such… read more

Research Summary

My main area of research is the history of ideas about language, especially the history of German grammar and language education. In 2011 I worked on a part- AHRC-funded project "German Through… read more

Recent Publications

  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. From humanist history to linguistic theory: the case of the Germanic rootword. In: LANGER, NILS, DAVIES, STEFFAN and VANDENBUSSCHE, WIM, eds., Language and History - Linguistics and Historiography Frankfurt: Lang. 89-109
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. Germanic ideals and their linguistic correlates. In: LEE, CHRISTINA and MCLELLAND, NICOLA, eds., Germania Remembered Tuscon, AZ: MRTS. (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. Du bon usage dans la tradition allemande 1200-2000. In: AYRES-BENNETT, WENDY, ed., Le Bon Usage Paris: ENS. (In Press.)
  • LEE, CHRISTINA and MCLELLAND, NICOLA, eds., 2012. Germania Remembered Tuscon, AZ: MRTS. (In Press.)

For a paper which I gave to the University of Newcastle School of Modern Languages about the history of German language learning in the UK, see http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/about/seminars/item/McLelland

For a (very brief) appearance on Radio 4's Making History to discuss Germans visiting Britain as part of the Grand Tour in the eighteenth century, as reflected in language teaching materials, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010dp0x#synopsis

I have talked about the words Deutsch and Achtung as part of Nottingham's Words of the World project:: http://www.wordsoftheworld.co.uk/videos/deutsch.html and http://www.wordsoftheworld.co.uk/videos/achtung.html

I teach German linguistics across the board, from the early history of the Germanic languages to current developments in German speech and grammar, as well as German sociolinguistics, including such questions as how Germans have felt over the centuries about borrowings from other languages (currently mainly English!).

I also enjoy teaching German language at all levels.

I am happy to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on any of the areas listed above, or any of the areas mentioned in my research summary.

Current Research

My main area of research is the history of ideas about language, especially the history of German grammar and language education. In 2011 I worked on a part- AHRC-funded project "German Through English Eyes", writing the history of textbooks of German for English speakers. The project documents textbooks of German from 1850 to 2000, and investigates the representation of the German language to generations of British school pupils in these works, as well as the representation of the cultures of the German-speaking countries; and representations of the tumultuous history of Germany over the past century or so.

Together with Dr Richard Smith (Warwick), I am developing a project on the history of modern foreign language teaching in the UK. See http://historyofmfl.weebly.com/index.html for more details.

My other research interests include: German medieval literature (the subject of my PhD), and sociolinguistic theory: language standardization, codeswitching theory, language and gender, and linguistic purism.

Past Research

I have previously worked on the history of German grammar-writing and linguistic reflection from the Middle Ages to the present day. My monograph on the major 17th-century language theorist J.G. Schottelius appeared in 2011. This research was funded in part by two major fellowships from the Humboldt Foundation and from the Irish Humanities and Social Sciences Research Council.

Future Research

I welcome collaborations with colleagues in the UK and beyond in areas such as on the history of foreign language teaching and language standardization in Europe.

  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. From humanist history to linguistic theory: the case of the Germanic rootword. In: LANGER, NILS, DAVIES, STEFFAN and VANDENBUSSCHE, WIM, eds., Language and History - Linguistics and Historiography Frankfurt: Lang. 89-109
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. Germanic ideals and their linguistic correlates. In: LEE, CHRISTINA and MCLELLAND, NICOLA, eds., Germania Remembered Tuscon, AZ: MRTS. (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. Du bon usage dans la tradition allemande 1200-2000. In: AYRES-BENNETT, WENDY, ed., Le Bon Usage Paris: ENS. (In Press.)
  • LEE, CHRISTINA and MCLELLAND, NICOLA, eds., 2012. Germania Remembered Tuscon, AZ: MRTS. (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2012. Rules for the neighbours: Prescriptions of the German language for British learners. In: PERCY, CAROL, ed., The Languages of Nation: Attitudes and Norms Multilingual Matters. (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2011. Sehen und Nicht-Sehen am Beispiel von Harmann von Aue’s Iwein.. In: BAUSCHE, RICARDA, COXON, SEBASTIAN and JONES, MARTIN H., eds., Sehen und Sichtbarkeit in der Literatur des deutschen Mittelalters Tübingen: Niemeyer. 161-176
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2011. Lessons from literary theory: applying the notion of transtextuality (Genette, 1982) to early modern German grammars. In: HASSLER, GERDA, ed., History of lingusitics 2008 Amsterdam: Benjamins. 187-200 (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2011. J.G. Schottelius's Ausführliche Arbeit von der Teutschen Haubtsprache (1663) and its place in early modern European vernacular Wiley-Blackwell.
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2011. Research traditions up to and including the 18th century. In: KORTMANN, BERND and VAN DER AUWERA, JOHAN, eds., Berlin: de Gruyter. 791-804
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2010. Justus Georgius Schottelius (1612-1676) and European linguistic thought Historiographia Linguistica. 37(1), 1-30
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2009. Linguistic Purism, Protectionism and Nationalism in the Germanic Languages Journal of Germanic Linguistics. 93-112
  • BRABER, NATALIE and MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2009. Modal particles in Dutch and German: clustering and combining Journal of Germanic Linguistics. 21(2), 93-112
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2009. Understanding German grammar takes centuries.... In: LANGER, NILS, HORAN, GERALDINE and WATTS, SHEILA, eds., Landmarks in the history of the German language Frankfurt: Lang. 57-84
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2008. Justus-Georg Schottelius and his influence on European vernacular grammatography outside Germany Germanistik in Ireland. 3, 71-84
  • MCLELLAND, NICOLA, 2008. Approaches to the semantics and syntax of the adverb in German foreign language grammars Beitrage zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft. 18(1), 37-58 (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2007. ÄDoch mein Mann m?chte doch mal wissen.Ã… A discourse analysis of 19th C emigrant womenÃs private correspondence.. In: Language History From Below. Linguistic Variation in the Germanic Languages Berlin : Mouton de Gruyer.
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2007. Seht ir dort jene hohe lin? (Frauendienst [1185: 2]) Der unerreichbare Innenraum in Ulrichs von Liechtenstein Frauendienst (ca. 1255).. In: , ed., Innenr?ume in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters Tübingen : Niemeyer.
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., SCHIEWER, H.-J. and SCHMITT, S., eds., 2007. Humanismus in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit Tübingen: Niemeyer. (In Press.)
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2006. Letters, sounds and shapes: reflections on the sounds of German in early modern linguistic awareness Transactions of the Philological Society. 104(2), 229-258
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2006. Reformation, Northern European.. In: BROWN, K., ed., Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd ed. Amsterdam : Elsevier. 464-468
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2005. Authority and audience in seventeenth-century German grammatical texts Modern Language Review. 100(4), 1025-1042
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2005. German as a second language for adults in the seventeenth century? Jacob Br?cker's Deutsche Grammatic (1620).. In: MCLELLAND, N.J. and LINN, A.R., eds., Flores Grammaticae: essays in Memory of Vivien Law 171-185
  • MCLELLAND, N.J. and LINN, A.R., eds., 2005. Flores Grammaticae: essays in memory of Vivien Law Münster : Nodus.
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2004. A historical study of codeswitching in writing: German and Latin in Schottelius' <i>Ausführliche Arbeit von der Teutschen HaubtSprache</i> (1663) International Journal of Bilingualism. 8(4), 499-523
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2004. Dialogue & German language learning in the Renaissance.. In: HEITSCH, D. and VALLéE, J-F., eds., Printed Voices: The Renaissance Culture of Dialogue Toronto : University of Toronto Press. 206-225
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2003. Niederdeutsch und Hochdeutsch in der satirischen Flugschrift 'Hans Pumbsack' (Rostock 1627). Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch.. 126, 107-32
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2003. Schottelius, the notion of Teutsch and sleight of hand.. In: JONES, W.J., KELLY, W.A. and SHAW, F., eds., 'Vir ingenio mirandus'. Studies presented to John Flood Göppingen : Kümmerle. 835-854
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2002. Schottelius, language, nature and art: buildings and banyans Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft. 12, 65-92
  • MCLELLAND, N.J., 2001. Albertus (1573) and Olinger (1574): Creating the first grammars of German Historiographia Linguistica. VOL 28(PART 1/2), 7-38

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