About

I have been Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics at the Institute of Scandinavian Studies, Frisian Studies, and General Linguistics at Kiel University since 2019.

My research focuses on matters related to language contact and multilingualism from an areal, sociolinguistic, historical, and construction grammar perspective. In addition, my work also includes phonetics and phonology as well as language ausbau and language standardisation.

My research covers both language-independent topics and the Nordic languages, i.e. Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. In terms of important contact languages, I have also worked on Low German and other North German varieties as well as Latin.

Pronunciation

My name is pronounced [ˌʃtɛfn̩ ˈhøːdɐ] in Standard German.

Current research

Diasystematic Construction Grammar (DCxG) | Grammatical Areality in the Nordic Countries and Northern Germany (GrammArNord) | (Ent-)Fesselung der Sprache | Språkliga nätverk, inom och mellan språk

Current academic functions

  • June 2022–: Deputy Member, Academic Senate and Extended Academic Senate
  • April 2022–: Member, Advisory Board, Institute for Language and Folklore
  • February 2015–: Member, Advisory Board, Specialised Information Service for Northern Europe, Univer­sity Library Kiel
  • October 2014–: Head of department library, Scandinavian Studies

Curriculum vitae

  • 2019–: Full Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics, Institute of Scandinavian Studies, Frisian Studies and General Linguistics, Kiel University
  • 2015: The Swedish Academy’s Award for Postdoctoral Linguists, Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademiens stipendium till postdoktorala språkforskare)
  • 2013–2019: Junior Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics, Institute of Scandinavian Studies, Frisian Studies and General Linguistics, Kiel University
  • 2012–2013: Interim Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics, Kiel University
  • 2011–2013: Senior Lecturer, University of Münster (German Studies)
  • 2010–2011: Lecturer, HafenCity University Hamburg (Q-Studies)
  • 2007/2008: Lecturer, University of Hamburg (Scandinavian Studies)
  • 2005–2011: Researcher, research project Scandinavian Syntax in a Multilingual Setting, Collaborative Research Centre 538 Multilingualism, University of Hamburg
  • 2009: Award for the best dissertation in the Faculty of Language, Literature and Media and the Faculty of European Languages and Literatures, University of Hamburg, Haspa Foundation
  • 2005–2009: Doctoral student, University of Hamburg (Scandinavian Studies). PhD dissertation: “Sprachausbau im Sprachkontakt. Eine theoretische und empirische Analyse zum Syntaxwandel im Altschwedischen” [“Language Ausbau in Language Contact. A Theoretical and Empirical Study on Syntactic Change in Old Swedish”]. Supervisor: Kurt Braunmüller
  • 2000–2005: Student, University of Hamburg (Scandinavian Studies, German Linguistics, Phonetics). Magister Artium [Master of Arts]
  • 2000–2005: Excellent Student Fellowship, German Academic Scholarship Foundation

Memberships