Michelle Waldispühl

Michelle Waldispühl is a Professor of German Linguistics at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages. Her academic journey includes roles as Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg (2015–2023) and earlier positions in Switzerland. She holds a PhD from the University of Zurich (2013) and a Habilitation from the University of Gothenburg (2019).

Her research focuses on historical sociolinguistics, multilingualism, grapholinguistics, and historical cryptology. Notable projects include leading the DESCRIPT and DECRYPT initiatives, which explore historical manuscript decryption and linguistic diversity. She co-edits the NordiCon database analyzing medieval Nordic personal names in continental sources.

Waldispühl's teaching spans German, Scandinavian, and English linguistics at all academic levels. Her work bridges historical linguistics with digital humanities, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to cryptology and sociolinguistic analysis. Key contributions include studies on medieval libri vitæ as sociolinguistic resources and the application of historical language models in cryptanalysis.