CV
Present Positions
| Since August 2024 | Chargé de recherche, CNRS laboratoire Structure et Dynamique des Langues (SeDyL), Paris/Villejuif |
| Since Dec. 2020 | Privatdozent, Linguistics, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin |
Previous Positions
| Aug. 2019 - July 2024 | DFG Heisenberg researcher, Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin |
| Dec. 2018 – Dec. 2020 | Privatdozent, Universität zu Köln |
| Feb. 2018 - July 2024 | Chargé de recherche, CNRS laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage (DDL), Lyon |
| Feb. 2014 – Jan. 2018 | Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam |
| Aug. 2009 – June 2015 | Senior Researcher, Department of Linguistics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig |
| August 2009 | Faculty member, Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute. Class taught: Nominal classification |
| Oct. 2007 – July 2009 | Wissenschaftlicher Assistent, Universität Regensburg |
| Sep. 2004 – July 2009 | Principal Investigator “Documenting the languages of the People of the Centre, especially Bora and Ocaina (North West Amazon)” (until Sep. 2007 as Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Ruhr-Universität Bochum) |
Degrees and university education
| Dec. 2016 | Habilitation (postdoctoral lecture qualification), University of Cologne. Thesis title: “Affix borrowing: Processes and Patterns” |
| Feb. 2001 – Oct. 2005 | Ph.D. in linguistics, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen and Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. Thesis title: “The Structure and Use of Shape-Based Noun Classes in Miraña (North West Amazon)” |
| Feb. 1999 – Jan. 2001 | M.A. in Etnolingüística, Centro Colombiano de Estudios de Lenguas Aborígenes (CCELA), Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Thesis title: “El sistema de clasificación nominal del miraña [The System of Nominal Classification of Miraña]” |
| Oct. 1992 – Jan. 1999 | M.A. in General Linguistics, Freie Universität Berlin. Thesis title: “Grundfragen bei der Dokumentation bedrohter Sprachen [Fundamental Issues in the Documentation of Endangered Languages]” |
| Sep. 1996 – May 1997 | Studies in General linguistics, experimental phonetics, Spanish literature and Catalan language at the Universitat de Barcelona |
Awards and grants
| May 2017 | Lecturer of the Year prize for BA Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam |
| Dec. 2005 | Mary R. Haas Award, presented by the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) for a manuscript from a younger scholar that makes a significant substantive contribution to the knowledge of American Indian languages |
| Mar. 2001 – Feb. 2004 | Ph.D. stipend of the Max Planck Gesellschaft |
| Feb. 1999 – Jan. 2001 | Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) stipend for graduate students |
| Sep. 1996 – Jun. 1997 | Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) stipend for undergraduate students of Romance Studies |
Fieldwork
| Since July 2003 | Fieldwork on Bora (Boran) and Resígaro (Arawakan) in Northern Peru, supervision of fieldwork on Witoto and Ocaina (Witotoan) (total of 10 months) |
| Mar. 1999 – Oct. 2002 | Fieldwork on Miraña (Boran) in Southern Colombia (total of 10 months) |
| Feb. – April 1998 | Various short field trips to indigenous communities in Colombia: Wiwa, Chimila (Chibchan), Cocama (Tupian) as visiting researcher at the CCELA, Bogotá |
Membership in professional associations Gesellschaft für Bedrohte Sprachen (GBS) (president) Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS) Dissertation committees
| May 2019 | Luis Miguel Rojas Berscia (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Ph.D. thesis “From Kawapanan tu Shawi. Topics in language variation and change” |
| March 2018 | Bien DoBui (Université Paris-Sorbonne), PhD. thesis “Grammaire de l’amuzgo de Xochistlahuaca, langue otomangue orientale. Documentation d’une variété amuzgoane de «langue en danger»” |
| Sept. 2017 | Helder Perri Ferreira (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Ph.D. thesis “Yanomama Clause Structure” |
| June 2017 | Marlou van Rijn (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Ph.D. thesis “The expression of modifiers and arguments in the noun phrase and beyond. A typological study” |
| Dec. 2016 | Matthias Passer (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Ph.D. thesis “The Noun Phrase in the Languages of South America” |
| Sep. 2016 | Ewelina Wnuk (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Ph.D. thesis “Semantic specificity of perception verbs in Maniq” |
| June 2016 | Femmy Admiraal (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Ph.D. thesis “A grammar of space in Baure: A study on the linguistic encoding of spatial reference” |
| April 2014 | Joshua Birchall (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Ph.D. thesis “Argument marking patterns in South American languages” |
| Sept. 2013 | Doris Fagua (Université Paris Diderot – Paris 7), committee member and pré–rapporteur for Ph.D. thesis “Aspects morphosyntaxiques de l’ocaina” |
| Sept. 2013 | Ergin Öpengin (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3), Ph.D. thesis “Clitic/affix interactions. A corpus-based study of person marking in the Mukri variety of Central Kurdish” |
| Sept. 2012 | Marine Vuillermet (Université Lumière Lyon 2), Ph.D. thesis “A grammar of Ese Ejja” |
| July 2012 | Olga Krasnoukhova (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Ph.D. thesis “The Noun Phrase in the Languages of South America” |
| June 2010 | Helder Pereira (CIESAS, Mexico), M.A. thesis “Los Clasificadores Nominales del Yanomama de Papiu (Brazil)” |
Thesis supervision
| Since 2021 | Frederic Blum (HU Berlin) “Word-initial consonant strengthening: A Bayesian analysis based on corpora from 20 languages” (preliminary title) |
| 2011-2016 | Katherine Bolaños (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and Universiteit van Amsterdam): Day-to-day supervision of Ph.D. thesis “A grammar of Kakua” (defended October 2016) |
| 2014 | Eline Visser (Universiteit van Amsterdam): Day-to-day supervision of M.A. thesis “Evidentiality that also expresses tense: A typological study” |
| 2017 | Annemijn von Holtz (Universiteit van Amsterdam). B.A. thesis “Universele klank-betekenisassociaties binnen kleurterminologie” |
| 2017 | Bart Nijsten (Universiteit van Amsterdam). B.A. thesis “Additieve en/of alternatieve coördinatie constructies: een onderzoek naar de typologische claims van mental logic theory” |
| 2014 | Simone Mooi (Universiteit van Amsterdam): Day-to-day supervision of B.A. thesis “Plantation creoles vs. trade pidgins: The effect of social inequality on language structure” |
| 2014 | Redmer Kronemeijer (Universiteit van Amsterdam): Day-to-day supervision of B.A. thesis “Optionele getalsmarkering in Cochabamba-Quechua; een corpusgebaseerd onderzoek” |
