I am a language researcher working as lecturer/researcher (Akademischer Rat) at the Department for General Linguistics (Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar) of the Georg-August University Göttingen. During the winter term 2022/23 I was working as substitute professor at the Institute for German Language and Linguistics at Humboldt-University in Berlin. I have previously also taught at the universities of Wuppertal, Bielefeld and Hertfordshire.
I obtained my PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge (King’s College).
My main research interests are in formal linguistics, more specifically syntactic and morphological theory, from a comparative perspective. That means, on the one hand, that I am aiming to contribute to a better understanding of the underlying system of knowledge and language structures determining the possible (and impossible) arrangement of words or sub-parts of words in a given language. Comparing the differences and commonalities between closely and not so closely related languages helps us getting a clearer idea of the range and limits of variation between human languages, providing the empirical basis for a better understanding of the characteristics of the human Faculty of Language. In addition to my formal inclinations, I am fascinated by the construction of identities (particularly the special significance assigned to national ones), the role language can play in it and how that interacts language ideology and impacts (or doesn’t) political situations. A slightly more detailed outline of my research interests, as well as my publications and presentation can be found in the Research section.
I have a big interest in technical developments, and have some thoughts and experiences regarding travel-ready gear for researchers. Maybe I’ll write some of that down in the future - however, I suppose product reviews may count as commercial activity, raising the formal bar for this website (for the time being people seriously interested can gladly reach out to me). My preferred work environment involves Linux (currently endeavourOS), the tiling window manager/compositor Sway, an editor (I simply use gedit), the typesetting engine LaTeX and also pandoc, a great universal tool for converting various document formats into each other (e.g. turning simple Markdown documents into visually appealing pdf documents or presentations via LaTeX or into HTML like for this website). I’ve also been using R and R Studio for statistical analysis and visualisation.
In my spare time I practice Capoeira Angola with Grupo Vadiação (mestre Rosalvo) at Academia Jangada in Berlin and have been awarded the title of treinel in 2014. I’ve also had the pleasure of training, teaching and playing Capoeira with great people at various other places in Germany, the UK, Greece, Russia and Ukraine.
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Research interests
- comparative syntax and syntactic theory
- morphological theory (Distributed Morphology)
- nominal structure
- adnominal person
- (nominal) modification/attribution
- context sensitivity
- linearity effects in morphology
- language contact and minority languages
- applying corpus data in linguistic research
- Modern Greek, Basque, German
- Greek varieties of southern Italy
- Mabia/Gur languages
- nationalism(s) and identity
Languages
- fluent: German, English, Modern Greek, Russian
- intermediate: (Brazilian) Portuguese
- basic knowledge: Spanish, Yiddish, French, Arabic, Greko (Calabrian Greek), Tok Pisin, Classical Greek, Latin
- research exposure (a.o.): Basque, Italian, Bulgarian, Pomak, Aromanian, Mooré, Dagara, Cypriot Maronite Arabic
Education
- 2017: PhD University of Cambridge (King’s College)
- 2012: MRes in Linguistics with specialisation in Syntax, University College London
- 2011: BSc Linguistics, University of Potsdam