The major field program in German Studies has three areas of concentration: The linguistic component of the program deals with the structure and development of the German language, its variants and varieties (dialects, registers, styles), its use in texts and in oral interaction, and its cognitive processing. The area modern German literature covers German literature from the 16th century to the present. The texts are analyzed within the context of historical and sociocultural issues and comparative aspects as well as current approaches of literary theory and media theory are considered.