English Linguistics

Linguists in the English Department investigate the core areas of language, both with specific reference to English as well as crosslinguistically. One particular strength of the Linguistics section is the application of empirical research to theoretical modeling, which is an internationally renowned hallmark of Tübingen linguistics. With this approach, members of the section collaborate closely with linguists in other departments of the faculty and colleagues in Literary Studies and Psychology, both within the collaborative research center SFB 833 'The Construction of Meaning' and the Research Training Group GRK 1808 'Ambiguity'.

Research Areas

• Theory of grammar and the formal description of English and its core subcomponents: phonetics/phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics
• Universal vs. language-specific properties of language, comparative linguistics
• Interaction between sentence structure, intonation and meaning
• Interaction between syntax and discourse, information structure
• Experimental approaches in phonetics/phonology, syntax and semantics
• First and second language acquisition
• Psycholinguistics and sentence processing
• Language change and diachronic analysis
• Spoken Language Comprehension

Professors in the Linguistics section:

Prof. Dr. Sigrid Beck
Theory of Grammar, Semantics, Syntax/Semantics- und Semantics/Pragmatics Interface, Language Comparison

Prof. Dr. Sam Featherston
Psycholinguistics, Syntax, Syntax/Processing Boundary Phenomena, Sentence-level Structures, Grammar Architectures, Experimental Syntax

Jun.-Prof. Dr. James Griffiths

Formal syntax and semantics of: amalgamation, apposition, parentheticals, clarification requests, comment/report clauses, echo questions, ellipsis, fragments, extraposition, information-structure, interjection, null objects of prepositions, pied-piping, polar replies, quotation, relativisation, split utterances

Prof. Dr. Andrea Weber
Psycholinguistics, Language Processing, Second Language Acquisition, Foreign Accents, Phonetics

Prof. Dr. Susanne Winkler
Syntax Theory, Information Structure, Phonology, Syntax/Phonology and Syntax-Pragmatics Interface, Psycholinguistics