Work
| period | position | institution | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-today | Researcher | Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), Germany. | I currently work on a DFG-funded intrastructure project Open Text Collections developing a publishing platform for interlinearised text. |
| 2021 | Parental leave | By far the busiest 9 months in this CV. | |
| 2020-2023 | Researcher | Leibniz - Centre General Linguistics (ZAS), Germany. | I worked on a two-strand project that addressed multilingualism and complex verb morphology in the languages of Southern New Guinea. |
| 2017-2019 | Researcher | Universität zu Köln, Germany. | I worked on the project A comprehensive documentation of Bine - a language of Southern New Guinea. |
| 2016-2017 | Editor, developer | Walther de Gruyter, Germany. | I worked in the editorial team for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception and as a developer in the team for database management and development. |
| 2016/2017 | Researcher | Australian National University, Canberra. | I carried out primary data collection for Idi and Komnzo for the ARC project The Wellsprings of Linguistic Diversity. |
| 2015-2016 | Lecturer | Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany. | I was teaching classes in Syntax (BA), Language contact (BA/MA), and Papuan languages (MA). |
| 2010-2015 | Researcher | Australian National University, Canberra. | I carried out primary data collection and archiving for the DOBES project (Volkswagen Foundation) Nen and Komnzo - two languages of Southern New Guinea. |
| 2009 | Teacher | Bildungswerkstatt Chemnitz gGmbH, Germany. | I taught English for special purposes (ESP) to students of mechatronics from Chemnitz during their exchange at Ammattiopisto Lappia in Kemi, Finland. |
| 2008 | Intern | OSCAR e.V., Chemnitz, Germany. | I was part of the organising team for the international arts exhibition Transaktion 2008 - Skulpturen des Übergangs, which involved four artists staging public performances. |
| 2005-2008 | Tutor | Department of English Linguistics & Department of Political Theory and History of Ideas, TU Chemnitz, Germany. | I was a tutor and teaching assistant for various lectures and seminars. |
| 2005-2006 | Research assistant | Department of English Linguistics, TU Chemnitz, Germany. | I was employed in the project Hedging in academic English. |
Education
| year | title | institution | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Ph.D in linguistics | Australian National University | My dissertation was a full reference grammar of a hitherto undescribed Papuan language. The thesis is entitled: A Grammar of Komnzo. A language of Southern New Guinea. pdf |
| 2009 | Magister Artium in political science, English linguistics, and applied linguistics | Technical University Chemnitz | My thesis focused on German public discourse about migration and asylum between 2000-2005. The thesis is entitled: Die Sprache des Migrationsdiskurses. Eine linguistische Analyse der Diskussion um das Zuwanderungsgesetz (The language of migration policy - a linguistic analysis of the debate on migration legislation). pdf |
| 2007 | Honours Degree in linguistics | University of Melbourne | I analysed a particular kind of syncretism between first person inclusive and exclusive in various pro-forms of languages in spoken Northern Australia. The thesis is entitled: The clusivity flip. Patterns of deponency in the pronoun paradigms of Northern Australian languages. pdf |
Funding
| period | project | funding body | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-2026 | Open Text Collections, co-applicant with Sebastian Nordhoff and Mandana Seyfeddinipur. | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) | We currently develop the intrastructure (workflow, conversion scripts, guidelines, platform, editorial board) for publishing texts in a parallel text format and in an interlinearised format. We publish text collections as (pdf-)books and as a digital database. |
| 2017-2019 | A comprehensive documentation of Bine - a language of Southern New Guinea | Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) | The grant provided the funding for several research trips to the village of Irukupi, where Bine is spoken. Bine was at the time an under-documented language of the Oriomo language family. |
| 2010-2015 | Nen & Komnzo - Two languages of Southern New Guinea, co-applicant with Nicholas Evans and Julia Colleen Miller | Volkswagen Foundation (DoBeS) | The grant provided the funding for a detailed documentation of two undescribed Papuan languages from an almost completely unknown language family in Southern New Guinea, plus more basic materials on surrounding languages. |
| 2013 | Vice Chancellor’s HDR Travel Grant | Australian National University | The grant paid for a research visit to Philadelphia and for the participation in the 3rd International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. |
| 2010-2013 | Stephen and Helen Wurm PhD scholarship | Australian National University | The scholarship covered my living costs (and secured my visa) as a PhD student in Australia. |
Awards
| year | award title | institution | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Georg von der Gabelentz Award | Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) | prize for the published book A grammar of Komnzo 2018. Berlin: Language Science Press. |
| 2021 | Franz Boas Award | The Digital Endangered Languages & Musics Archives Network (DELAMAN) | honourable mention for the Bine archive collection at ELAR |
| 2017 | Stephen Wurm Prize for Pacific Linguistics | Australian National University | prize for the thesis A Grammar of Komnzo. A language of Southern New Guinea |
| 2017 | Franz Boas Award | The Digital Endangered Languages & Musics Archives Network (DELAMAN) | honourable mention for the Komnzo archive collection at TLA |
Primary data collection (AKA fieldwork)
| language | period | location |
|---|---|---|
| Bine | 9 months between 2018-2019 | Irukupi, Western Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Idi | 3 months between 2016-2017 | Bimadbn/Dimsisi, Western Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Komnzo | 18 months between 2010-2016 | Rouku, Western Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Tolaki | field methods class in 2010 | Australian National University |
| Wartha Thuntai | field methods class in 2012 | Australian National University |
Membership
| period | association |
|---|---|
| since 2021 | Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) |
| since 2021 | Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) |
| since 2016 | Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) |
| since 2015 | European Society for Oceanicists (ESfO) |
| since 2014 | Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen e.V. (GbS) |
Service
as board member
| period | institution | description |
|---|---|---|
| since 2024 | Language Science Press | editor-in-chief for the series Open Text Collections |
| 2022-2023 | Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) | member of the workers’ council (Betriebsrat) |
| since 2021 | Förderverein deutsche Linguistik-Olympiade e.V. (DOL) | board member |
| since 2021 | Language Science Press | editorial board member for the series Comprehensive Grammar Library |
| 2018-2021 | Language Science Press | editorial board member for the series Studies in Diversity Linguistics |
| since 2015 | Language Science Press | proofreader |
| 2013-2014 | Department of Linguistics, Australian National University | PhD student representative |
as reviewer
| I have reviewed articles, books, and applications for the following publishers and agencies: |
|---|
| Studies in Language, Open Linguistics, NUSA, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, The International Journal of Bilingualism, Pacific Linguistics, Language Science Press, The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, SIL International, Folia Linguistica Historica, John Benjamins, Springer, de Gruyter |
as examiner and supervisor
| I have examined and co-supervised theses at the following institutions: |
|---|
| Australian National University, University of New England, Universität Regensburg, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, University of Newcastle (Australia) |
as conference organiser
| date | conference | institution | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2022 | 14th Austronesian & Papuan Languages and Linguistics Conference | Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) & Humboldt University, Berlin | together with Jocelyn Aznar, Yining Nie, Jozina Vander Klok, and Tonjes Veenstra |
| Dec 2021 | MultEx@ZAS - Workshop on Multiple Exponence | Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) | together with Kenyon Branan, Thomas McFadden, André Meinunger, Zorica Puškar-Gallien, Nicholas Rolle, Frank Seifart, Alexander Turtureanu, Tonjes Veenstra, and Karolina Zuchewicz |
| May 2013 | 2nd Workshop on the Languages of Melanesia | Australian National University | together with Mae Carroll, Fanny Cottet, Nicholas Evans, and Simon Greenhill |
| Mar 2012 | 1st Workshop on the Languages of Melanesia | Australian National University | together with Mae Carroll, Fanny Cottet, and Nicholas Evans |
Failures
| Not everything works out. I have applied unsuccessfully to the following organisations for jobs, scholarships, prizes and other things: |
|---|
| Australian National University, Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, The University of Helsinki, Le laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage (DDL) - Lyon, Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) - Berlin, Universität Leipzig, The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney, Universität Zürich |