Marie-Kristin Hofmann – författare

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl fur Amerikanische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: Travel blogs, as narratives of identity, can provide a particularly apt insight into female solo travellers' identity constructions and the narrative strategies they use to present these identities to their readers. Using an exploratory and qualitative approach, this paper aims at exploring the question of what kind of self-identity female solo travel bloggers construct and how they fashion it narratively. This research goes beyond previous studies of weblogs as it identifies how identity is constructed by a particular sub-group of bloggers that has not been investigated before (female solo travellers). Moreover, it provides an overview of narrative strategies used in travel blogs defining the travel blog as its own literary genre.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim (Anglistische Linguistik (A1)), language: English, abstract: This paper investigates whether the syntactic features of current advertising slogans are still congruent with Leech's concept of Standard Advertising Language (established in 1966) since it is a linguistic framework still widely accepted among scholars. But more importantly, because it can provide an answer to a more far-reaching question lying behind the issue of the applicability of Leech's claims to advertising slogans today: in the course of almost half a century, has advertising language changed and does a new syntactic framework need to be established? The syntactic analysis is based on syntactic features such as sentence force, number of adjuncts, finiteness of verbs, tense and aspect, voice, type of co-ordination and number of adjectives. The findings suggest that the majority of the syntactic features of current advertising slogans are still congruent with Leech's findings. As a result, the applicability of Standard Advertising English can be extended to current advertising slogans. However, certain deviations from Leech's concept have been detected in the sample and they suggest a significant development: advertising slogans have changed in certain respects since the 1960s. In Linguistics, four different types of sentence force can be distinguished, denoted as mood by Leech: declarative, imperative, interrogative and exclamative. The one occurring most frequently in Leech s sample is the imperative force: in his sample, over one in four major independent clauses were imperative. However, only very few imperative clauses are accompanied by a negative form since advertising aims at inciting actions instead of prohibiting them. The infrequency of negative forms, thus, represents a general principle of advertising language. Likewise, interrogative clauses are a common feature of advertising, but with only one in thirty major independent clauses being interrogative. As Leech does not mention declarative and exclamative clauses, they will not be treated as salient features of advertising language in this paper.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl fur Anglistische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: Travel writing helps travel writers to redefine their identity and to revise their concept of home as well as to determine its relative position in the world when using it as a frame of reference. In "e;Wanderlust: A Love Affaire with Five Continents"e;, Elisabeth Eaves, both author and protagonist, renegotiates these two concepts - home and identity - in her inner journey of self-exploration. Making use of a qualitative and explorative approach, this paper investigates the question of how the search for identity and belonging is fashioned in the book. First, the theoretical part of the paper relates the concepts of home and identity to infer how home can function as a source of identity. These theoretical frameworks are then applied in the subsequent section to assess the manner and success of Elisabeth's strategies of identity construction providing an answer to the question whether her mobile lifestyle as a modern nomad leads to homelessness and lack of identity. Finally, the analysis section breaks down the narrative techniques Elisabeth uses to secure her public identity as travel writer and relates them to the construction of her personal identity.