Maria Persson

Maria Persson serves as Head of Department at Lund University's Centre for Languages and Literature and holds the position of Associate Professor and Manager of Research and Research Education in Arabic Studies. She is affiliated with the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University, Sweden's premier research institution with strong international connections.

Her research focuses on Arabic dialect syntax within the framework of corpus-based typological syntactic studies. With expertise in Semitic languages linguistics, she examines clause combining mechanisms, verb form switches, and syntactic structures across various Arabic dialects including Damascene, Gulf, and Syrian varieties. Her methodological approach combines detailed corpus analysis with cross-linguistic typological perspectives.

Analysis of her publication record reveals consistent specialization in Arabic syntactic phenomena, particularly examining how clauses combine in discourse and how verb forms signal hierarchical relationships between clauses. Her work spans both theoretical linguistic frameworks and practical applications for understanding Arabic language variation.

Scientific Awards:

• Elected member of Vetenskapssocieteten (The Royal Physiographic Society in Lund) in 2015

Maria Persson actively supervises doctoral students including Mariam Dalhoumi (defended 2022) and Mahmut Ağbaht, while serving on examination committees for other doctoral defenses. Her administrative leadership extends to chairing the Centre for Languages and Literature Board and Working Committee, demonstrating significant institutional responsibility alongside her research and teaching duties.