Dr Robert Mailhammer
Areas of expertise
- Language In Time And Space (Incl. Historical Linguistics, Dialectology) 200406
- Linguistic Structures (Incl. Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics) 200408
Research interests
Australian languages and descriptive linguistics, language change and language variation, especially the history of the Germanic languages, morphology, phonology, typology, language acquisition
Biography
Having been trained as a historical linguist in the field of Indo-European languages, especially English and German, at the University of Munich, I've worked in German and English Departments in Germany. However, since 2007 I have been focusing on Australian languages in Northern Arnhem Land, documenting what is left of Amurdak, a member of the Iwaidjan language family. This research concentrates firstly on transcribing, glossing and translating existing recordings, and secondly on analysing this data also from a comparative perspective. Future plans include a grammar, the publication of an existing draft dictionary as well as historical investigations. At ANU I completed a Feodor-Lynen postdoctoral research grant, which I started in 2007 at the University of Melbourne.
Career highlights
Lecturer, German Linguistics, University of Munich (2002-2007); Feodor-Lynen Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Linguistics, University of Melbourne (2007); Lecturer, English Linguistics, University of Munich and Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (2007-2009). Currently Assistant Professor at Arizona State University.
Publications
- Holman, E, Brown, C, Wichmann, S et al 2011, 'Automated Dating of the World's Language Families Based on Lexical Similarity', Current Anthropology, vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 841-875.
- Mailhammer, R 2011, 'The prehistory of European languages', in B.Kortmann & J.van der Auwen (ed.), The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin Germany, pp. 671-682.
- Mailhammer, R 2011, 'From ic nolde to I don't wanna: The Status of Clitics in the History of English', in Renate Bauer and Ulrike Krischke (ed.), More than Words: English Lexicography and Lexicology Past and Present; Essays Presented to Hans Sauer on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday - Part 1, Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Frankfurt Germany, pp. 413-423.
- Mailhammer, R 2011. The prehistory of European languages, in: J van der Auwera & B Kortmann, The Languages and Linguistics of Europe, World of Linguistics 1, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 671-682
- Lenker, U, Huber, J & Mailhammer, R 2010, 'Introduction: Capturing and explaining syntactic change in the history of English', in URSULA LENKER JUDITH HUBER ROBERT MAILHAMMER (ed.), ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS 2008: SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS (ICEHL 15), MUNICH, 24-30 AUGUST 2008 VOLUME I: THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH VERBAL AND NOMINAL CONSTRUCTIONS, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp. 1-8.
- Mailhammer, R 2010, 'Subgrouping Indo-European: A fresh perspective', Conference on ASJP and Language Prehistory (ALP 2010), Automate Similarity Judgment Program, Leipzig Germany, pp. 483-502.
- Mailhammer, R 2010, 'Thoughts on the genesis and the development of syllable cut in English', Anglia: Zeitschrift fur englische Philologie, vol. 127, no. 2, pp. 261-282.
- Laker, S & Mailhammer, R 2010, 'Problems in English Historical Phonology: Introduction', Anglia: Zeitschrift fur englische Philologie, vol. 127, no. 2, pp. 173-175.
- Mailhammer, R 2010, 'Die etymologische Forschung und Lehre auf dem Gebiet des Germanischen in Deutschland am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts ** ', Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, vol. 15, pp. 37-65.
- Mailhammer, R & Handelsmann, R, eds, 2009, Amurdak Inyman: Six stories in Amurdak told by Bill Neidjie and Nelson Mulurinj, Iwaidja Inyman, Darwin, NT.
- Mailhammer, R 2009, 'Towards an Aspect-Based Analysis of the Verb Categories of Amurdak', Australian Journal of Linguistics, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 349-391.
