معرفی
Birgit Alber is a Professor specializing in German linguistics affiliated with the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. She holds academic sector L-LIN/14 (Language and Translation - German) and is recognized for her expertise in theoretical and applied linguistics, particularly focusing on German language varieties and their contact phenomena.
Her research interests include the phonology of German and its varieties, description and analysis of Germanic varieties of Northern Italy (Tyrolean, Mòcheno and Zimbrian) compared to Romance contact varieties, theoretical phonology within Optimality Theory framework, analysis of stress patterns across world languages, and prosodic morphology with focus on truncation typology. She approaches linguistic variation through both theoretical frameworks and empirical fieldwork.
Alber coordinates the research project 'Minimality in Linguistic Variation' funded by the University of Verona and participates in the European 7th Framework project AthEME ('Advancing the European Multilingual Experience'). Her other significant projects include 'Germanic-Romance language contact in the Southern-Central Alps' and research on Cimbrian language as a laboratory for linguistic variation analysis.
She has taught extensively across multiple degree programs including Bachelor's degrees in Languages and Cultures for Publishing, Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Languages and Cultures for Tourism and International Commerce, as well as Master's programs in Comparative European and Non-European Languages and Literatures and Linguistics. Her teaching covers all aspects of German language structure including phonology, morphology, syntax, variation, and historical development. Notably, she was offered a guest professorship at the University of Bielefeld, Germany for the spring semester 2018.
Professor Alber serves as a member of the Faculty Board of PhD in Linguistics and contributes to the academic governance of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
