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Welcome to the Department of General Linguistics!

Emmy-Noether-Research Group

The Emmy-Noether Research Group on Non-Hierarchicality in Grammar (NonGram) examines the formation of syntactic structures in constructions without a formal word-class distinction from a typological perspective; the languages studied are Waima'a (Austronesian), Kera'a (Sino-Tibetan), Warlpiri (Pama-Nyunga) and Vedic Sanskrit (Indo-European).

VedaWeb

VedaWeb 2.0 is the DFG-funded follow-up project of VedaWeb, a Digital Humanities project led by Prof. Dr. Uta Reinöhl in cooperation with other researchers. It aims at creating a web-based, openly accessible and collaborative platform for linguistic research on Old Indo-Aryan texts.

Fieldwork on Kera'a

Within the scope of the Emmy-Noether Research Group on Non-Hierarchicality in Grammar, Naomi Peck and Prof. Dr. Reinöhl study Kera'a, a Trans-Himalayan language located in the North-East of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, spoken by about 10,000 Idu Mishmi.

Fieldwork on Waima'a

Within the scope of the Emmy-Noether Research Group on Non-Hierarchicality in Grammar, Kirsten Culhane explores the prosody of Waima'a, an Austronesian language spoken by about 18,000 people in East Timor, an island country located in the Indonesian archipelago.

PhD Project on Warlpiri

Within the scope of her PhD project tied to the Emmy-Noether Research Group on Non-Hierarchicality in Grammar, Maria Vollmer studies Warlpiri, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken by about 2'300 people in the Australian Northern Territory. She is especially interested in how language change and language contact reflect in morphosyntax. Image: Papunya/Warumpi, © by James Gray

Zur Sprache kommen

We organized an exhibition on linguistic fieldwork and endangered languages in collaboration with the Uniseum. It was open to the public from June 13, 2024, to August 25, 2024. Many of the exhibition materials are still available on our website: 
Zur Sprache kommen: Visualising Research on Endangered Languages — Department of General Linguistics (uni-freiburg.de)

Languages Spoken in the Linguistics Department

This map shows the diverse languages spoken by members of the Linguistics Department at the University of Freiburg. 

News

  • Applications are open! You can now apply for our M.A. Programme "Lingusitics: Language, Communication & Cognition" starting in October 2025. The application deadline is July 15 (for non-EU applicants) and September 15 (for EU applicants). More information on the application process can be found here.
  • A recent article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine about Kera'a and Prof. Dr. Uta Reinöhl: Wenn Fenster des Denkens erblinden
  • Interview with Prof. Dr. Uta Reinöhl in the Badische Zeitung about endangered languages in connection with our exhibition Zur Sprache kommen. 
  • The HPCL lecture series "Language, Communication & Cognition" continues.
    You can find the lecture dates here.
  • Master's programme: Linguistics: Language, Communication and Cognition
    Our Master's programme Linguistics: Language, Communication and Cognition started in the winter semester 2023/24. The programme is organised by the linguistics departments in Freiburg. Depending on the choice of the field of study, it is possible to study the programme exclusively in English. You can find further information on the programme and the fields of study here.

Current Publications