Maria Selig

Maria Selig is Professor of Romance Studies (French and Italian linguistics) at the University of Regensburg and has served as Dean of the Faculty of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies (SLK) since October 2023. She has been employed at the University of Regensburg since 2003, following previous positions at Humboldt University of Berlin. She is a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 2009 and previously served as Chairwoman of the German Italianists Association from 2008-2012.

Her research focuses on historical linguistics, particularly medieval Romance languages, language standardization processes, phonetics and phonology, and the transition from Latin to Romance languages. She has made significant contributions to Occitan studies through her leadership of the 'Altokzitanischen Wörterbuchs' (Medieval Occitan Dictionary) project since 2012. Her work often examines the interfaces between orality and literacy, language variation, and the social dimensions of linguistic change.

Professor Selig's recent publications demonstrate her continued engagement with discourse traditions in early Romance, linguistic standardization from actor perspectives, and computational approaches to historical language data. Her research projects frequently involve interdisciplinary collaboration and digital humanities approaches, reflecting contemporary trends in historical linguistics.

• Heisenberg Fellowship of the DFG (1996)
• Full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (since 2009)

She has supervised numerous doctoral students through the International Doctoral College 'Textuality in the Premodern Era' and has received multiple third-party funded research projects from the DFG, BMBF, and other funding organizations. Her leadership extends to organizing international conferences and summer schools, particularly through the 'Forum Mittelalter' network. Professor Selig also maintains significant responsibility for the binational Bachelor's program in German-Italian Studies between Regensburg and Trieste.