Purpose/Activities

 

The IDS (Institute of German Language) in Mannheim was established in 1964. It is the central non-university institution for the research and documentation of the German language, its contemporary use and recent development. As a member of the Leibniz community, the IDS is equally funded by the federal government and by the government of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

 

The Institute's different departments mainly work on long-term projects which re-quire larger teams of researchers. For a number of research programmes, the IDS collaborates with project teams and individual researchers from different uni-versities.

 

Research Priorities:

Grammar

The grammar department registers and describes the grammatical structures of the German language, also in comparison with other languages.

Lexis

This department studies and describes German vocabulary with special refer-ence to the significance and usage of selected vocabulary sections, and to the historic and current changes of language usage.

Pragmatics

This department studies and describes linguistic functions and variability, i.e. the formation and articulation of linguistic differences with special reference to oral usage.

Public Relations and Documentation / Library

These areas of work include public relations, communication to the press, pub-lishing, documentation and the library.

Central Data Processing

The DP department supports the computer-based work in the different depart-ments by providing and maintaining the necessary hard- and software as well as programming.

Administration

 

The library, archives and documentations, machine-readable text collections and language databases are also open and available to external linguists.

With its lectures, symposia and colloquia, the IDS is also a place for encounters and exchanges between German and foreign German language experts and all those who are interested in this language.

 

Language amateurs from many private and public areas of life (businesses, pub-lishers, bookshops, radio channels, etc.) have formed the 'Society of Friends of the Institute of German Language' to support its scientific research and cultural outreach.

 

Periodical Publications:

Deutsche Sprache (quarterly)

Sprachreport

Studien zur deutschen Sprache (irregular)

Yearbooks of the Institut für deutsche Sprache

Annual Report