Jürgen Spitzmüller is a Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Vienna. His academic work focuses on sociolinguistics, metapragmatics, and language ideologies, with a particular emphasis on discursive practices in digital and institutional contexts. Current role: Deputy Head, Department of Linguistics Teaching: Applied Linguistics, Theory of Science, Yiddish Studies Email: juergen.spitzmueller@univie.ac.at His research explores the intersection of language ideologies, social positioning, and discursive practices. Key areas include typographic variation as a social phenomenon, the role of multimodal elements in communication, and the construction of public spheres in digital contexts. Recent publications highlight trends in analyzing graphic variation, the socio-political implications of text design, and the interplay between language and cultural identity. His work often bridges theoretical frameworks from sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and media studies. Spitzmüller’s teaching includes courses such as Introduction to Applied Linguistics , Methods of Applied Linguistics , and specialized seminars on Yiddish and language ideologies. He has also contributed to academic discourse through editorial work and collaborative research projects.
Dirk Geeraerts is a full Professor of Linguistics at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), where he has held a faculty position since 1993. He studied Germanic languages (Dutch and English) and holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, earning his PhD in 1981. His academic career includes professorships at the Kortrijk campus of the University of Leuven (1986–1993) and the University of Leiden (1985–1986), as well as foundational research at the Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie (1977–1985). Research Focus : Geeraerts specializes in lexical semantics , lexicology , and cognitive linguistics , particularly examining social variation , diachronic change , and empirical semantic methods . His work bridges theoretical and applied lexicography, notably through his editorial role in the Van Dale Groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal (1995–2005). Scientific Contributions : Founded the international journal Cognitive Linguistics Co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics Managing editor of the Cognitive Linguistics Research monograph series Honors and Awards : 1978: L.K. Engels Award 1992: Flemish Government Award for Wat er in een woord zit 2003: Member of the Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature (KANTL) 2020: Matthias de Vries Medal for Dutch lexicology contributions Labs and Teams : Established the Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL) research group at the University of Leuven, advancing empirical approaches to lexical and semantic studies.
Stefan-Michael Newerkla is a University Professor of West Slavic Linguistics at the Department of Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Philology and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna. He has served as Head of the Institute of Slavic Studies since 2022, following previous leadership roles as Deputy Head (2018-2022) and Head (2005-2008). His academic leadership extends to significant positions including Member of the Academy Council of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2022-2026), Member of the International Board of Palacký University Olomouc (2022-2026), and Member of the Scientific Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences (since 2013). Professor Newerkla earned his doctorate in 1998 with a dissertation on "Intended and actual linguistic reality in Bohemia. Diglossia in the school system of the Czech-speaking countries of the Habsburg Monarchy 1740–1918 using the example of the West Bohemian district town of Plzeň (Pilsen)" and completed his habilitation in 2003 on "Language Contacts Czech – German – Slovak. German Loanwords in Czech and Slovak: Historical Development, Evidence, Previous and New Interpretations." His academic journey began with studies in Slavic Studies, English Studies, and American Studies at the University of Vienna from 1992-1998. His research focuses on West Slavic linguistics with particular emphasis on contact linguistics, areal linguistics, linguistic geography, and historical sociolinguistics. He investigates the development of linguistic contacts between German, Hungarian and Slavic languages, examining Central Europe as a linguistic area with special attention to Austriazisms and Internationalisms research. His work also explores the school system and language teaching in the Habsburg Monarchy, analyzing language legislation versus language reality and diglossia or polyglossia in the educational system. Additional research interests include the National Renewal in the Bohemian Lands, Vienna's role in the Czech National Renewal, the Slovak national awareness process, and the grammatology and grammarography of West Slavic languages. Analysis of his recent publications (2023-2025) reveals a continued focus on historical language contact in Central Europe, particularly examining multilingualism in the Habsburg Monarchy and linguistic heritage. His work increasingly incorporates interdisciplinary approaches, connecting linguistic analysis with historical, educational, and cultural studies perspectives. Recent publications show particular attention to Czech language in Austria, language teaching methodologies, and the reconstruction of historical language contact phenomena, with several multilingual publications reflecting his expertise in cross-cultural communication. Professor Newerkla's scientific achievements have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards: Medal of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (August 7, 2024) for Services to Diplomacy Premia Bohemica for 2023 for outstanding contribution to promoting Czech literature abroad Josef-Dobrovský-Ehrenmedaille of the Czech Academy of Sciences (April 25, 2017) Full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (since 2018) Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (since 2014) Member of the Academic Assembly of the Czech Academy of Sciences (since 2010) Award from University of Vienna for Innovative Teaching (June 22, 2001) As an academic leader, Professor Newerkla has supervised numerous theses across various levels of study. His research is supported by significant grants, most notably his role since 2016 as consortium member and board member of the Special Research Programme "German in Austria. Variation – Contact – Perception" (SFB F 60-G23), where he heads Task Cluster C and subprojects 05 and 06. He also led the research project "Slavists in Exchange: Austria and Russia 1849-1939" (2021-2025). His administrative roles have included Chairman of the Curricular Commission of the Senate of the University of Vienna (2010-2016) and Member of the Senate of the University of Vienna (2009-2016). Professor Newerkla is actively involved in multiple international research teams and collaborations, including the Permanent Conference of Austrian and Czech Historians on Common Cultural Heritage (SKÖTH), which he has co-chaired since 2009. His research group at the University of Vienna's Institute of Slavic Studies focuses on West Slavic linguistics, with particular expertise in historical language contact phenomena and the linguistic heritage of Slavic languages in Central Europe. He has also served as editor for numerous publications including the Vienna Slavic Yearbook (New Series) since 2013.
Arne Ziegler is a full Professor at the Institute of German Studies within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Graz, Austria. His academic career spans over two decades, with current leadership of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)-supported Special Research Programme 'German in Austria' (DiÖ), running from 2016 to 2026. He maintains active roles in international academic governance and editorial boards. Professor Ziegler's research centers on grammatical variation in Standard German , with particular emphasis on Austrian German dialects, urban sociolinguistics, and youth language phenomena. His work bridges theoretical linguistics and practical applications, examining how regional, social, and historical factors shape language structures. Key contributions include the development of the 'Variant Grammar of Standard German' – a comprehensive digital reference work documenting areal grammatical differences across German-speaking regions. Analysis of his recent publications reveals consistent focus on urban language dynamics, grammatical variation patterns, and reference grammar development. His work demonstrates methodological innovation through quantitative analysis of spoken interaction, spatial distribution mapping of linguistic features, and interdisciplinary approaches combining sociolinguistics with historical text analysis. The 'German in Austria' project represents the cornerstone of his current research, investigating language variation, contact phenomena, and speaker perception across Austria. Professor Ziegler has secured significant competitive funding including three major FWF projects: 'German in Austria' (2016-2026), 'Youth language(s) in Austria' (2013-2016), and 'Variant Grammar of Standard German' (2015-2018). These initiatives involve extensive collaboration with researchers across German-speaking countries and support large-scale empirical investigations into contemporary language use. He holds prominent leadership positions including Chair of the International Association for German Studies (IVG) since 2000, Chair of the Society for German Language History since 2008, and editorial roles for 'Technical language' (International Advisory Board) and 'Contingentia' (Editorial Board). His academic service extends to co-editing six major book series including 'Writings on the German Language in Austria' (Peter Lang) and 'Lingua Historica Germanica' (de Gruyter), significantly shaping publication venues for German linguistic research.
Roman Krivko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Slavonic Studies , University of Vienna. His research focuses on Old Church Slavonic , Byzantine hymnography , and historical linguistics of Slavic languages. Specializes in medieval Slavic epigraphy and liturgical text analysis Key contributor to studies on Christian traditions in Slavic contexts Active editor and researcher in international Slavic studies Research Themes include: Quantitative analysis of loanwords in Slavic Gospels Textological studies of service menaia and kontakia Historical development of Old Bulgarian language Linguistic networks in Central/Eastern Europe Scientific Contributions span Editorial work on Slověne journal Notable publications on the Temnić inscription and Samuil's epigraph Collaborations with institutions like Vinogradov Russian Language Institute
Professor Ailbhe Ní Chasaide at Trinity College Dublin is a leading figure in phonetics, with expertise in voice quality, speech production, and Irish language prosody. She established Trinity’s Phonetics & Speech Laboratory and leads a multidisciplinary team focused on speech technology and endangered language preservation. Education PhD Experimental Phonetics, University of Wales, Bangor (1985) MA Linguistics, University of Wales, Bangor (1977) Maîtrise ès Lettres French Literature, Université de Bordeaux (1975) BA French/German, University College Galway (1973) Her research explores how voice quality interacts with prosody to convey emotion and linguistic meaning, alongside pioneering work in documenting and preserving the Irish language through speech technology. Key areas include experimental phonetics, speech acoustics, and Irish dialect intonation. Recent publications highlight affective prosody, cross-language voice quality analysis, and Irish language revitalization. These works span acoustic modeling, synthetic speech applications, and the role of prosody in linguistic identity. Scientific Awards Elected member of the ISCA IAC (2021) Elected to Council of the International Phonetic Association (2019) Government of Ireland Senior Research Fellowship (2003) Fellow Trinity College Dublin (1998) Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (1987) Senior Research Fellowship, Oxford University (1982) Professor Ní Chasaide mentors a team of postdocs, research assistants, and PhD students. She has co-founded Irish postgraduate programs in phonetics and supervised numerous researchers. Her projects, including ABAIR (€3.85m) and FastNet (€1.12m), focus on speech technology and social interaction studies.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexandra Lenz is a Professor of German Linguistics at the University of Vienna's Department of German Studies. Her research focuses on Austrian German dialects, lexical variation, and sociolinguistic dynamics, particularly through digital methods and corpus-based approaches. Key Research Areas: Austrian German dialects, lexical variation, sociolinguistic perception, and digital humanities. Projects: Leading contributions to the Special Research Programme 'German in Austria (DiÖ): Variation–Contact–Perception' and LexAT21 lexicon atlas. Methodology: Specializes in corpus linguistics, syntactic variation analysis, and experimental elicitation techniques. Recent Trends: Articles from 2025–2020 explore lexical responses to crises (e.g., pandemic language), grammaticalization pathways, and dialect syntax through comparative and interdisciplinary frameworks.
Alexandra N. Lenz is a Professor of German Linguistics at the University of Vienna and a Full Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She serves as Director of the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH-CH) and Spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center 'German in Austria: Variation – Contact – Perception' (FWF F060). Her work spans dialectology, variationist linguistics, syntax, sociolinguistics, and digital humanities. Ph.D. in German Linguistics (University of Marburg, 2002) DFG Fellowship (1998–2001) Rosalind Franklin Fellowships (2005–2009) Her research focuses on Austrian German dialects, lexical variation, syntactic change, language contact, and the interplay between standard and non-standard varieties. She leads the LexAT21 project, analyzing 21st-century lexical variation in Austria, and explores diaglossic repertoires through corpus-based and experimental methods. Recent publications examine lexical dynamics in Austrian media during the pandemic, relativizer variation in Austria, and the evolution of possessive constructions. She has organized major conferences like ICLaVE12 and 'AI meets Humanities & Social Sciences' in 2025. Full Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences (2019) Elected Corresponding Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences (2013) Vidi-Grant (NWO, 2009) [unaccepted] Hugo-Moser-Prize (2009) Lenz mentors through networks like 'Sprachwissenschaftliche Dissertationsprojekte der Wiener Germanistik & Friends' and contributes to editorial boards of journals such as Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik . Her leadership roles include chairing the ÖAW Research Department 'Linguistics' and co-founding initiatives like the 'Bairisch Across Borders' network. She directs labs and teams at ACDH-CH, focusing on digital humanities infrastructure and language variation corpora. Her work bridges traditional dialectology with computational methods, emphasizing Austria's unique linguistic landscape.
Heike Wiese is a Professor (W3) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2019, holding the Chair for German in Multilingual Contexts within the Department of German Language and Linguistics. Previously, she held similar professorships at Universität Potsdam (2006-2019) and served as a Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University (2005-2006) through a Feodor-Lynen award. Her career began at Humboldt-Universität as a Lecturer (1993-1998) and Assistant Professor (1998-2005). She also worked as a Visiting Scholar at Brandeis University (1998-1999) via a DAAD postdoctoral stipend. Current research spans grammar-lexicon interactions, linguistic architecture, language variation/contact, and language ideologies. Her 2005 Susanne K. Langer Award recognized her foundational work on numerical cognition and language. Recent publications focus on multilingual communication, urban dialects, and emoji as discourse markers in digital German.
Barbara Soukup-Kirchner is an Assistant Professor for the Sociolinguistics of German in Austria at the Department of German Studies , University of Vienna. Her work bridges sociolinguistics, linguistic landscaping, and cognitive approaches to language variation. She leads the Sparkling Science 2.0 project 'VisibLL – Students explore the (un)observable multilingualism of Vienna's linguistic landscape' and has directed the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project 'ELLViA – English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria' (V394-G23).
Nikolaus Himmelmann is a Full Professor (W3) in General Linguistics at the University of Cologne since 2010. Previously, he held professorial positions at Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster (2007-2010), Ruhr-University Bochum (1999-2007), and has been actively involved in linguistic research through funded projects like the DoBeS framework (2004-2005) and SFB 1252 projects (2017-2020). He is a founding member and past president of the German Society for Endangered Languages, and serves on multiple editorial boards including Language Documentation & Conservation and Studies in Language . 2018 Honorary Member, Linguistic Society of America 2017 Leo Spitzer-Preis, University of Cologne 2014 Best Paper in Language Award His research spans typology, grammaticalization, language documentation, and prosody-syntax interfaces. He has secured significant grants from DFG, VW Foundation, and BMBF for collaborative projects on language documentation, articulation speed variation, and prosodic prominence. His administrative roles include chairing linguistics institutes at Münster and Cologne universities.
Attila Németh is a Professor of German Linguistics and Language Didactics at the University of Teacher Education Upper Austria, affiliated with the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (German Studies). His academic trajectory includes extensive research in language variation, dialectology, and cross-cultural communication, with a geographical focus on Hungarian-German linguistic communities. Education: PhD in German Linguistics (Sociolinguistics/Dialectology) from the University of Szeged (2009) Doctoral studies in German Linguistics at the University of Szeged (2001–2004) Interpreter and Translator training at the University of Szeged (2000–2001) MA in Hungarian and German Studies at the University of Szeged (1995–2001) Research Focus: Németh's work investigates the interplay between language contact, sociolinguistic attitudes, and educational applications. Key areas include dialect preservation in minority communities, morphosyntactic complexity in bilingual contexts, and pedagogical strategies for grammar instruction. His research consistently addresses the dynamics of German dialects in Hungary, emphasizing textbook design and language policy implications. Publication Trends: His articles predominantly explore sociolinguistic and contact-linguistic phenomena, with recurring themes of language simplification, bilingual normativity, and dialect erosion. Methodologically, they blend empirical fieldwork with theoretical frameworks, often focusing on Hungarian-German communities to analyze broader patterns of language change and identity. Professional Activities: He co-edited the Zeitschrift für Mitteleuropäische Germanistik (2011–2016) and contributed to DAAD-supported projects like Intercultural Relations within and beyond Borders (2008–2009). Earlier roles include editorial work for academic journals and research coordination at the Pannonian University.
Stephan Elspaß serves as a University Professor of German Linguistics at the Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Salzburg. He holds significant leadership roles including Chair of the Curricular Commission for Doctoral Studies and Member of the Doctoral Commission at the Faculty of Cultural Studies. Professor Elspaß is also Co-Speaker of the Collaborative Research Center F60 "German in Austria" (DiÖ), a major research initiative examining linguistic variation across Austria. His research focuses on German dialectology with particular emphasis on Austrian German variants, regional linguistic patterns, and language variation. Professor Elspaß leads several innovative projects including the "Atlas of everyday German language," the WEAVE project "Variant Pragmatics" (VariPrag), "Patterns and Structures of Regional Linguistic Reality" (MuSt), and the citizen science initiative "Wenker 2.0 – Citizens research their dialects," which was recognized as a Top Citizen Science Project. His methodological approach combines traditional dialectology with computational tools like GeoLing, a statistical software package he developed for geolinguistic data analysis. Professor Elspaß's scholarly output demonstrates consistent focus on linguistic variation across German-speaking regions, with particular attention to Austrian German. His recent work shows increasing integration of digital methods and citizen science approaches, reflecting broader trends in contemporary linguistics. The research spans theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and practical applications of dialect documentation. As academic leadership, Professor Elspaß contributes significantly to doctoral education at the University of Salzburg through his role in the Curricular Commission. His collaborative projects span multiple institutions across German-speaking countries, particularly through the D-A-CH project "Variant Grammar" which connects researchers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Luca Melchior serves as Head of the Institute of German Studies at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, where he holds a full professorship in German Studies. His academic roles include Deputy Head of Institute and leadership in subject didactics initiatives. Specializing in general linguistics, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics, his research focuses on multilingualism, Romance studies, and language policy with particular emphasis on Friulian and Occitan dialects. His research priorities span lexicography, historical linguistics networks, and linguistic documentation. Notable projects include analyses of Hugo Schuchardt's correspondence networks and contributions to Friulian language standardization. He leads the Linguistics and Literature team alongside colleagues like Barbara Neymeyr and Sabrina Gardener, and coordinates the Austrian Forum for German Didactics (ÖFDD). Recent publications (2015–2019) explore multilingual urban dynamics, linguistic networks, and collaborative lexicography methods. His work bridges historical linguistic analysis with contemporary issues in minority language preservation and digital humanities applications. Teaching activities focus on German didactics methodologies and Romance philology. Professional activities include editorial roles for ide – information on German didactics and participation in literary conferences. Office hours are by appointment via email at N.1.55 campus location.
Lisa Krammer is a Lecturer at the Department of German Studies, University of Vienna. Her work focuses on linguistic variation, socio- and metalinguistics, and science communication, particularly in academic and public contexts. She teaches courses in linguistics at both bachelor's and proseminar levels. Department of German Studies, University of Vienna Teaching roles: Proseminar and Bachelor Seminar in Linguistics Her research explores language attitudes, multilingualism, and the visibility of linguistic diversity in urban environments. Notably, she co-developed the Citizen Science project VisibLL , engaging school students in studying Vienna's linguistic landscapes through public exhibitions. Her recent publications address topics such as language variation in university lectures, multilingual practices in public spaces, and crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. While no formal awards are listed, her work bridges academic research with community education through participatory projects.
