Beke Hansen

Beke Hansen is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in English Linguistics at Kiel University since 2021, following her role as Assistant Professor at the University of Freiburg (2018-2021) and multiple research/teaching positions at Kiel University from 2012-2018.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Linguistics from Kiel University (2013-2017), awarded Faculty Prize of the Faculty of Arts
• Master of Education with Teaching Certificate for Gymnasia (English & Latin) in 2012
• Bachelor of Arts in Teaching (English/North American Studies & Latin Philology) in 2010
• Studies at University of Bristol (2011-2012) in English Linguistics and Classical Studies

Dr. Hansen specializes in sociolinguistics with research foci on language variation/change, sociophonetics, World Englishes, and Indigenous Englishes—particularly First Nations Englishes in British Columbia. Her current postdoctoral project documents historical First Nations Englishes, examining negation and discourse features through sociolinguistic frameworks. She investigates modality, language contact, and discourse-pragmatic variation across global English varieties using corpus methodologies.

Her publications (2017-2024) reveal consistent corpus-based analysis of World Englishes, emphasizing modal systems, quotative structures, and gender-related variation. Key contributions include her 2018 monograph on variation in modal systems and survey chapters in Year's Work in English Studies, demonstrating methodological innovation through ICE corpus applications and interdisciplinary approaches to sociolinguistic change.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Faculty Prize of the Faculty of Arts, University of Kiel
• DAAD Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship
• Short-term Research Fellowship from Foundation for Canadian Studies
• Scholarship from German Academic Scholarship Foundation

As Deputy Academic Advisor, she provides student counseling while securing competitive research funding including Kiel University's habilitation grant for female researchers, DAAD Post-Doc support, and Digital Humanities funding for the Linguistic Data Café project co-organized with Dr. Robert Daugs.

She is affiliated with the Hermann Paul School of Linguistics, actively participates in the 'New Englishes, New Methods' research network, and contributes to R Ladies Freiburg. Her departmental role includes managing equipment rental for linguistic data analysis and teaching courses spanning Acoustic Phonetics to World Englishes.