Holger Diessel

Holger Diessel is a Professor of English Linguistics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. His research focuses on the origins of language in biology, culture, and society, with a particular emphasis on usage-based grammar as a dynamic system shaped by cognitive mechanisms in communication and processing.

Education:

• German Language and Literature, University of Hamburg
• Linguistics, University of Buffalo

Diessel's work challenges traditional structuralist views by integrating findings from cognitive linguistics, linguistic typology, psychology, and computer science to explore how linguistic categories emerge from language use. His projects examine frequency effects in grammar, entrenchment in construction grammar, and the diachronic evolution of syntactic structures.

Scientific Awards:

• Wiko Fellow (2015/2016)

He has organized interdisciplinary workshops on mechanisms of grammatical change, the evolution of meaning, and animal cognition, reflecting his commitment to bridging linguistic theory with broader cognitive and social processes.