Peter Auer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Auer (born 1954) is a German linguist and Professor Emeritus of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Freiburg. He is known for his work in sociolinguistics, code-switching, multilingualism, dialectology, and conversation analysis.
Peter Auer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954 (age 71–72) |
| Alma mater | University of Constance (PhD, 1983; Habilitation, 1988) |
| Known for | Research on code-switching, multilingualism, dialectology |
| Awards | Baden-Württemberg State Research Prize (2011) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Linguistics Sociolinguistics Dialectology |
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | Zweisprachige Konversationen. Code-Switching und Transfer bei italienischen Migrantenkindern in Konstanz (1983) |
Early life and education
Auer was born in 1954 in Regensburg, West Germany. He studied General Linguistics, German Linguistics, Sociology, and Psychology at the Universities of Cologne, Constance, and Manchester.[1]
He completed his doctoral dissertation (Promotion) at the University of Constance in 1983, titled "Zweisprachige Konversationen. Code-Switching und Transfer bei italienischen Migrantenkindern in Konstanz" (Bilingual Conversations: Code-Switching and Transfer among Italian Migrant Children in Constance). He subsequently completed his post-doctoral dissertation (Habilitation) at the same institution in 1988.[1]
Career
From 1980 to 1989, Auer worked as a researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Constance. In 1989, he became a Heisenberg Scholar and later accepted a position as professor of German Linguistics at the University of Hamburg.[1]
In 1998, Auer joined the University of Freiburg as a full professor of Germanic Philology (Linguistics), where he remained until his retirement. He declined professorships at the universities of Munich, Mainz, and Bangor (Wales).[1]
From 2007 to 2013, Auer served as co-director of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) School of Language and Literature.[1]
Administrative and editorial roles
Auer has held several significant administrative positions in the field of linguistics:
- Elected referee of the German Research Foundation (DFG) for General Linguistics (2000–2008)[2]
- Co-director of the European Science Foundation Network on "Convergence and Divergence of Dialects in a Changing Europe"[1]
- Member of editorial boards of various national and international academic journals[1]
Research
Auer's research spans multiple areas of linguistics, with particular focus on sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and dialectology. According to Google Scholar, his work has been cited over 72,000 times.[3]
Research areas
Auer's scholarly contributions include work in the following areas:
- Code-switching and bilingualism: His research on code-switching in conversation has been influential in understanding how bilingual speakers alternate between languages in social interaction.[2]
- Dialectology: He has conducted extensive work on German dialects, particularly Alemannic varieties in southwestern Germany, examining how regional language varieties change through societal development.[4]
- Conversation analysis: His studies on spoken interaction have contributed to discourse research, including work on turn-taking, prosody, and the temporal organization of talk.[4]
- Language contact and multilingualism: Research on mixed languages and fused varieties emerging in multilingual contact situations.[5]
- Online syntax: Pioneering work analyzing the psychological and interactional processes involved in real-time language production.[4]
Research projects
Auer has served as principal investigator on 15 externally funded research projects supported by organizations including the German Research Foundation (DFG), Volkswagen Foundation (VW-Stiftung), and Thyssen Foundation (Thyssen-Stiftung).[1]
Awards and honors
In 2011, Auer received the Baden-Württemberg State Research Prize for his work on regional language varieties.[4] The prize recognized his innovative approaches combining traditional dialectology with modern theories of variational dynamics, migration, language contact, stereotype research, globalization, and urbanization.[4]
Selected publications
Auer has authored six monographs, edited thirteen books and journal issues, and written approximately 100 research articles.[1]
Books
- Auer, Peter (1984). Bilingual Conversation. John Benjamins. ISBN 978-90-272-2541-2.
- Auer, Peter; di Luzio, Aldo (1992). The Contextualization of Language. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-5034-6.
- Auer, Peter (1998). Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-60673-3.
- Auer, Peter; Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth; Muller, Frank (1999). Language in Time: The Rhythm and Tempo of Spoken Interaction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535516-1.
- Auer, Peter (2007). Style and Social Identities: Alternative Approaches to Linguistic Heterogeneity. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-019081-6.
- Auer, Peter; Pfänder, Stefan (2011). Constructions: Emerging and Emergent. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-022908-0.