Manfred Krifka

Manfred Krifka is Professor at the Institute for German Language and Linguistics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and served as Director of the Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) until September 2022. His research investigates linguistic meaning and language use through formal and experimental methods, with additional focus on Oceanic languages.

Research interests encompass formal semantics, pragmatic phenomena including anaphora resolution and speech act theory, and documentation of understudied languages. Recent work explores normative generics, anaphoric reference systems, and performative speech across languages.

Honors include the 2024 Wilhelm von Humboldt life achievement award from DGfS and 2021 Meyer-Struckmann Prize. Editorial responsibilities include serving as Editor-in-Chief of Theoretical Linguistics since 2002.