
I have been teaching linguistics for the last 20 years or so, and I have taught at the universities of Bonn, Düsseldorf, Osnabrück, Santiago de Compostela, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Catania, and Thessaloniki. In my teaching, I find the traditional socratic method in combination with hands-on analyses most effective and enjoyable. I was one of the first at my university to use powerpoint projections in the classroom, and later on to create online courses (check out www.ello.uos.de - we even got shortlisted for the Medida-Prix 2009!!). I also recorded my lectures for ITunesU and lernfunk.de (though you probably can't find them anymore).
I realize that the older I get, the more I am turning back to offline, chalk'n board seminars. And most of my students I appreciate that.
Below you will find a list of courses I have taught as well as topics of BA and MA theses I have (co-) supervised and a list of my current and past PhD students.
Extracurricular teaching activities:
1999-2002 several courses in General and Applied Linguistics, Bonn University
2002, 2005 several courses at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2008 Summer course in Historical Sociolinguistics, Santiago de Compostela, Spanien
2015 Graduate Workshop on Construction Grammar and Language Change (with Thomas Hoffmann), Universidad de Vigo, Spain
2015 Graduate Workshop on The role of beauty in language evolution, Università degli Studi di Catania, Italy
2016 Summer course “Old and Middle English in Context”, Naxos, Greece
2017 Summer course “Historical Sociolinguistics: Old and Middle English”, Naxos, Greece
2017 M.A. workshop on Historical Sociolinguistics and Social Network Analysis, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece
2018 Summer course “Historical Sociolinguistics: Old and Middle English”, Naxos, Griechenland
2018 M.A. workshop on Historical Sociolinguistics and Social Network Analysis, Aristotle University,
Thessaloniki, Griechenland
2020 Online student workshop “Historical Sociolinguistics”, University of Athens
2020 Online Summer Course “Reconstructing historical Englishes and their speakers”, Naxos
Regular Teaching
(until 2005/2006 Universität Düsseldorf, since 2006 Universität Osnabrück, unless marked otherwise)
2020/2021 Vorlesung Language Variation and Change
(Haupt-)Seminar Construction Grammar and Language Change
2019/2020 (Pro-)Seminar Cognitive Linguistics
(Pro-)Seminar Syntax
(Haupt-)Seminar Construction Grammar
2019 Vorlesung History of the English Language
2018/2019 (Haupt-)Seminar Spoken Language
(Haupt-)SeminarWritten Language
(Pro-)SeminarTolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ (with Th. Kullmann)
VorlesungLanguage Evolution
2018 (Haupt-)Seminar Language and the Media
(Haupt-)SeminarA Construction Grammar of Old and Middle English
(Haupt-)SeminarScatolinguistics
2017/2018 (Haupt-)Seminar Construction Grammar and Creativity
(Haupt-)Seminar Language and Idenitity
Vorlesung The History of English
2017 (Haupt-)Seminar Construction Grammar and Language Change
(Haupt-)Seminar Tense and Aspect
2016/2017 (Haupt-)Seminar Construction Grammar
(Pro-)Seminar Language Evolution (mit Jutta Müller und Nikola Kompa)
(Pro-)Seminar History of the English Language
2016 Tutorial: Basic of English Language and Linguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar Language Evolution
(Haupt-)Seminar Scatolinguistics
Examens- und Promotionskolloquium
2015/2016 (Pro-)Seminar/Vorlesung History of English
(Haupt-)Seminar Cognition and Poetics
(Haupt-)Seminar Written Language
(Haupt-)Seminar Spoken Language
Pro/Hauptseminar Metaphern (with Nikola Kompa)
2015 (Pro-)Seminar Construction Grammar
(Pro-)Seminar Language Change (with Meike Pentrel)
(Haupt-) Fuzzy Grammar
(Haupt-) Standard(s), Norm(s), Prestige
2014/2015 Tutorial: Basic of English Language and Linguistics
(Pro-)Seminar Morphology
(Pro-)Seminar Pragmatics
(Haupt-)Seminar Linguistic Approaches to Literature
(Haupt-)Seminar Scatolinguistics
2014 (Pro-)Seminar The Mental Lexicon
(Pro-)Seminar Syntax
(Haupt-)Seminar Language Change
(Haupt-)Seminar Discourse, Consciousness and Time
2013/2014 (Pro-)Seminar Meaning in Language
(Pro-)Seminar The History of the English Language in America
(Haupt-)Seminar Linguistic Approaches to Literature
Vorlesung Evolution of Language
2013 (Pro-)Seminar Sociolinguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar From Poetics to Cognition (with Peter Schneck)
(Haupt-)Seminar Written Language
Vorlesung Introduction to English Language and Linguistics
Kolloquium Recent Trends in Linguistics
2012/2013 (Pro-)Seminar Cognitive Linguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar Foundations of Language
(Haupt-)Seminar Sprache und Musik (with Dietrich Helms)
(Haupt-)Seminar The Language of House, MD (with Thomas Hoffmann)
Vorlesung Evolution of Language
Kolloquium Recent Trends in Linguistics
2012 (Pro-)Seminar Morphology
(Haupt-)Seminar Cognition and Poetics
Vorlesung Recent Trends in Historical Linguistics
Kolloquium Recent Trends in Linguistics
2011/2012 (Haupt-)Seminar Meaning in Language
(Pro-)Seminar Phonology
(Haupt-)seminar Standard(s), Varieties, Prestige
Vorlesung Language Evolution
2011 Hauptseminar Affective Science – Fictional Feelings: Emotions in Language, Literature, and Cognitive Science (with Peter Schneck und Achim Stephan)
2010/2011 Vorlesung Introduction to English Linguistics
(Pro)-Seminar Morphosyntax
Vorlesung Syntax in Context
(Haupt-)Seminar Early Modern English
2010 (Pro-)Seminar Pragmatics
(Haupt-)Seminar Textlinguistics
Vorlesung Contrastive Linguistics
Vorlesung Introdcution to English Linguistics II
2009/2010 (Pro-)Seminar Phonology
Vorlesung Language Variation and Change
Vorlesung Introduction to English Linguistics
Forschungsseminar Analyzing Bond, James Bond
2009 Vorlesung Introduction to Linguistics: History, Variation, Use
2008/2009 Vorlesung Introduction to Synchronic Linguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar Campaigns and Candidates: rhetorics and political language (with Peter Schneck)
2008 Vorlesung History of the English Language
Vorlesung Thiry Million Theories of Grammar?!
Examens- und Doktorandenkolloquium
2007/2008 (Pro-/Haupt)Seminar Grammaticalization
(Haupt-)Seminar The Language of Art and the Art of Language (with Peter Schneck)
(Haupt-)Seminar Language and the Media
Vorlesung Introduction to English Language and Linguistics
Examens- und Doktorandenkolloquium
2007 Vorlesung Language Variation and Change
(Pro-)Seminar Pragmatics
(Pro-/Haupt)Seminar The Mental Lexicon
(Haupt-)Seminar Varieties of English
2006/2007 Vorlesung Morphosyntax
(Pro-)Seminar Phonology
(Haupt-)Seminar Contrastive Linguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar Early Modern English
2006 Vorlesung History of the English Language
(Pro-)Seminar Morphology
(Haupt-)Seminar Corpus Linguistics
(Haupt-)Seminar Textlinguistics
2005/2006 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft (BA)
Proseminar Sociolinguistics(BA, MA, Lehramt)
Sprachwissenschaftliches Kolloquium für das Grundstudium
2005 Proseminar Language and society (UW Milwaukee)
Proseminar Language variation and change
Proseminar Semantics
Sprachwissenschaftliches Kolloquium für das Grundstudium
2004/2005 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Hauptseminar Fuzzy Grammar (with Dieter Stein)
2004 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Proseminar Phonology
Proseminar Discourse analysis
2003/2004 Proseminar Issues in English syntax
Proseminar Pragmatics
2002/2003 Proseminar An introduction to phonology (with Fred Eckman)
Proseminar Language and society (UW Milwaukee)
Hauptseminar Social and linguistic aspects of world languages (UW Milwaukee)
Vorlesung The diversity of human language (UW Milwaukee)
Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft (with Tania Kuteva)
Proseminar Language change
2002 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft (with Anette Rosenbach)
Proseminar The English Verb Phrase
2001/2002 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Proseminar Varieties of English
Proseminar Sprache und Evolution (Universität Bonn)
2001 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Proseminar Semantics
Proseminar Einführung in die Kognitive Linguistik (Universität Bonn)
2000/2001 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Proseminar An introduction to morphology
2000 Einführung in die englische Sprachwissenschaft
Proseminar An introduction to phonology
Proseminar Standard, Varietäten, Prestige (Universität Bonn)
1999/2000 Proseminar Morphosyntax(Universität Bonn)
1999 Übung English for social scientists
Proseminar Neuere Theorien zum Sprachwandel (Universität Bonn)
1997-99 Englischunterricht in der Erwachsenenbildung
Thesis supervision
Titel |
Type |
Year |
Uni |
Role |
Language change, social network analysis and the small world theory |
Magister |
2001 |
Poznan |
Consultant |
Email and SMS. The Language of Email and Text Messages. Asynchronous Intimate Discourse Online |
Lizentiats-arbeit |
2004 |
Zürich |
Consultant |
Interference in Second Language Acquisition: The Acquisition of English by native Speakers of Russian |
Magister |
2006 |
HHU D |
Supervisor |
It's about tag questions, isn't it? |
BA |
2007 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Noah Webster and American Lexicography |
BA |
2007 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Kognitive Prozesse bilingualer Lerner bei der fremdsprachlichen Verarbeitung von Fachinhalten |
Diss |
2007 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Formal and functional characteristics of email hoaxes: a genre study |
Diss |
2007 |
HHU D |
Co-supervisor |
The Language of Public Relations in Corporate Communication |
Magister |
2007 |
HHU D |
Supervisor |
The International Lingua Franca: English in an Example of Business Language Planning |
Magister |
2007 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Language of English Advertising: Norm and Deviation |
Magister |
2007 |
HHU D |
Supervisor |
Die Entwicklung der englischen Groß- und Kleinschreibung in der frühen Neuzeit am Beispiel ausgewählter Texte |
Magister |
2007 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Politics and Language. A Comparison of Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's Campaign Rhetoric. |
BA |
2008 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Is narration in the vernacular special? Taking a closer look at African American Vernacular English narratives" |
BA |
2008 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Sprache und Identität in Schottland |
Habil |
2008 |
Koblenz |
Consultant |
An Elizabethan Poet and Spy in Selected English Fiction |
Magister |
2008 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Language and gender in medieval literature: a comparative analysis |
BA |
2009 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Use of the Progressive in Present-day English |
BA |
2009 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Weight and Related Concepts in English and German Analytic, Contrastive and Pedagogic aspects |
Magister |
2009 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Conceptual Metaphors in Second Language Acquisition |
Master |
2009 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Aspects of Language Transfer in L2 Acquisition |
BA |
2010 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Second Language Acquisition: the earlier the better |
BA |
2010 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Traces of Old Norse in the lexicon and morphology of English |
BA |
2010 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition |
BA |
2010 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Functional Aspects of English Discourse Markers: The Case of Actually |
BA |
2010 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
The Elliptical Noun Phrase in English - Structure and Use |
Diss |
2010 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Structure of Interlanguages. The Acquisition of Simple English Interrogatives in Guided Second Language Acquisition |
Diss |
2010 |
HHU D |
Co-supervisor |
The Function of Language and Music in Advertising |
Master |
2010 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Identity, Intertextuality and Politics in Nigerian Internet and SMS Discourse |
Diss |
2011 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Question formation in English and Russian: a Role and Reference Grammar Analysis |
Magister |
2011 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Stylistic and Semantic Features of American Advertising Texts |
Staats-examen |
2011 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Recentness Progressive and Directive want |
Diss |
2012 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
ISH. Oscillations in Derivational Morphology |
Master |
2012 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Gendered Syntax in Scots |
Master |
2012 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Understanding German-English contrasts in the use of swer words: A comparative corpus-based approach |
Master |
2012 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Dynamics of Metaphor in Spoken Word Poetry |
Master |
2013 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Constraints and Principles Underlying Code-Switching in Bilingual Conversations |
Bachelor |
2013 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Support and Challenge oft he Critical Period Hypothesis |
Bachelor |
2013 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Celtic Fringe |
Master |
2013 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Textverwendung und -variation von Shakespeare-Zitaten – Eine kognitivlinguistische Untersuchung von Intertextualität |
Diss |
2013 |
Vechta |
Commitee |
Social Networks and mixed language business writing: Latin/French/English in the wardens’ accounts oft her mercers’ company of London, 1390-1464 |
Diss |
2013 |
Castilla-La Manche |
Referee |
A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Conceptual War Metaphors and Metonymies in Football Related Language (English and Dutch) |
MA |
2013 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Classical Mythology in Shakespeare’s Plays and Poems |
MA |
2013 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Extralinguistic Factors in First Language Attrition of Turkish in Theory and Practice: A Critical Investigation |
MA |
2014 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The development of the English lexicon in the Late Modern English period. Technical innovations and their consequences |
BA |
2014 |
OS |
Supervisor |
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: A Cognitive Approach. |
BA |
2014 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Does the degree of a foreign accent in an English teacher's speech have an influence on the students' English pronunciation? A study in a Foreign Language Classroom setting |
BA |
2014 |
OS |
Co-supervisor |
Parentheticals ad Pragmatic Markers in Present Day English: A functional approach to periphery structures. |
MA |
2014 |
OS |
Supervisor |
The Punctuated Equilibirum model in linguistics and the development of English |
BA |
2014 |
OS |
Supervisor |
PhD theses: