Curriculum Vitae
- Chair in English Linguistics at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- Habilitation in English Linguistics, University of Paderborn
- PhD in English Linguistics, University of Düsseldorf
- Diploma degree in English, Spanish and Agricultural Economics, University of Giessen
- Visiting appointments at the Universities of Wuppertal (2005) and Duisburg-Essen (2006)
- Publications in the areas of Linguistic Variation, Cognitive Complexity, Historical Linguistics, Functional Grammar, Language & Gender, Semantics, Pragmatics
- Monographs: More Support for More-Support: The Role of Processing Constraints on the Choice between Synthetic and Analytic Comparative Forms (2009); Gender Differences in English Syntax (2004)
- Co-editor of Determinants of Grammatical Variation in English (2003)
- Articles and books on comparative altenation, synthetic-analytic contrasts, adjectival compounds, way-constructions, dummy it, reflexives and particles, British-American differences, women's and men's differential use of adverbial clauses, tag questions, the Turn Allocation Principle, the Epistemic Modality Principle.
Co-Organizer of Symposia and Conference Workshops
- Determinants of Grammatical Variation in English (2000), with Günter Rohdenburg
- The (Non)distinction of the Syntax and Semantics of Adjectives and Adverbs (DGfS Conference 2003), with Dagmar Haumann
- Grammatical Differences between British and American English (2004), with Günter Rohdenburg, Julia Schlüter, Uwe Vosberg
- Support Strategies in Language Variation and Change (2013), with Javier Pérez-Guerra
Current Research
- (De)transitivization: pseudo-objects, way-constructions, reflexives, dummy it
- The role of language processing in grammatical variation and change
- British-American contrasts in syntax and morphology
- Functional motivations of synthetic-analytic contrasts
- Gender differences