Wolf Peter Klein

Prof. Dr. Wolf Peter Klein is a Full Professor at the Institute of German Philology within the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Würzburg. He holds the Chair of German Linguistics and leads research on grammar, lexicology, and pragmatics of modern German, historical evolution of scientific and standard languages, and linguistic uncertainties. His work bridges historical linguistics with contemporary language variation studies, focusing on corpus linguistics and digital humanities.

• 1981 Abitur at Jung-Stilling-Gymnasium
• 1982–1988 German linguistics, philosophy, and communication research at Bonn and Freie Universität Berlin
• 1989–1990 Teaching at Freie Universität Berlin
• 1991–1996 Researcher at Freie Universität Berlin
• 1997–2001 DAAD-Lektor and Professor at Tallinn Pedagogical University
• 2009–Present: Chair of German Linguistics at University of Würzburg

His recent articles focus on formularies as written language organization, historical apothecary language, and institutional language guides. They span keywords like language variation, corpus linguistics, and historical lexicography. Subfields include standardization processes, diachronic terminology, and digital text analysis. He serves on juries for the Kulturpreis Deutsche Sprache and leads the Würzburger Datenbank sprachlicher Zweifelsfälle. Currently, he is directing the Opus Magnum project (2024–2025) on written language organization, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.