prof.dr. O.C.M. (Olga) Fischer - University of Amsterdam

Brief c.v.

Born in Hilversum, The Netherlands in 1951. ‘Kandidaatsexamen’ (BA) in English Language and Linguistics, 1973 (University of Amsterdam, cum laude). MA in the ‘History of English and General Linguistics’, 1975 (University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), supervisor MA thesis, Prof. Barbara Strang, title ‘A Comparative Study of Philosophical Terms in the Alfredian and Chaucerian Boethius’. ‘Doctoraalexamen’ (MA) in English Language and Literature, 1976 (University of Amsterdam, cum laude). Doctorate, University of Amsterdam, 1990 (doctoral thesis: "Syntactic Change and Causation: Developments in Infinitival Constructions in English", cum laude). Lecturer in Historical Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, 1977-1992. Reader in Historical Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, 1992-1999. Professor of Germanic Linguistics, University of Amsterdam from 1999. Visiting scholar: University of Manchester, 1985-86. Visiting professor: University of Zürich, January-February 2000; University of Innsbruck, March-April 2002; University of Vienna March-July 2006, and March-July 2009.

Between 2011-2013, elected 'President (Elect)' of the Societas Linguistica Europeae, and from 2011 onwards 'President( Elect)' of ISLE (International Society for the Linguistics of English)

Has published extensively in international journals in the area of English historical linguistics, especially historical syntax. Interest in syntactic change related to changes in word order, comparison with developments in Dutch and German, grammaticalisation and the interaction between grammaticalisation and iconisation in language change.

Subjects taught

History of English
Language change and variation
Old English language
Early and late Middle English language
Middle English literature
Structure of Modern English
Phonetics/phonology
Grammaticalization
Aspects of English historical syntax
Diachronic Germanic Linguistics
Stylistics (iconicity in (literary) language)
Analogy

Research interests

History of English and language variation. Interest in syntactic changes in the history of English, especially the Old and Middle Englishperiods(from c. 700 to 1500), and particularly in changes which are the result of a general change in word order from SOVto SVO, which took place in the Old en Middle English periods. In this connection work hasbeen done on the rise of infinitival structures in English, such as passive infinitives, the for NP to V construction, Accusative and Infinitive constructions, the difference in usage between bare and marked infinitives etc. Research at present is on word order within the NounPhrase,especiallythe variable position of the adjective in Old English and Middle English .

Other interests are grammaticalization phenomena,and iconicity (form miming meaning) in language. I have worked on the interrelation between these two forces in language change, focussing on the differences between developments in the marked infinitives (te, zu, to + infinitive) between Dutch, German and English, and differences between the development of a modal verb have to from a possessive verb in English compared to Dutch hebben + te-infinitive. I have also been concerned with the status of grammaticalization, whether it should be regarded as an epiphenomenon or a mechanism or causal factor in its own right in change. Recently I have been working on the importance of iconic and indexical thinking in language evolution, and how this relates to the place of iconicity, and in particular of analogy, in language acquisition, language change and literary use of language.

In 2006-7 I worked on a project called ‘Morphosyntactic Change: Formal and Functional Approaches Compared’ funded by an NWO teaching-replacement subsidy. The research involved a comparison of the grammaticalization and the generative approaches to morphosyntactic change in order to establish by means of a number of case studies what role is played by both formal and functional/cognitive (including external) factors and how they intertwine in change, and also in how far they offer a solution towards an explanation of change. The book was published by Oxford University Press in 2007.

Recently, apart from further reseach into adjectival constructions in OldEnglish, I have been working on reduplication and its relation to iconicity, onan article about analogy in language processing for a handbook on Grammaticalization edited by Narog and Heine, to be published by OUP, and together with Wim van der Wurff of the university of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I will be writing a brief history of English syntax, to be published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press.In 2011, I have co-organized the Eighth International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature, together with Lars Elleström and Christina Ljungberg (Zürich) at the University of Växjö, Sweden. The proceedings of the seventh symposium will become available late in 2011.

Website: Iconicity in Language and Literature

publications (Dare archive)

Supervision of PhD projects

With Prof. Dr Jan Hulstijn: Elisabetta Materassi (PhD project ACLC/UvA): ‘ Metaphor in academic discourse: a study of metaphoric language and L2 learning. Starting date January 2012.

With Prof. Dr Folkert Kuyken: Roos van der Zwaard (PhD project ACLC/UvA): " Negotiating for meaning during instant chat-messaging and video-conferencing’. Starting date January 2012.

With Dr. Evelien Keizer: Mara van Schaik-Radulescu (aio-project ACLC/UvA): 'Gradience in split intransitivity: A typological investigation'. Starting date Dec. 1 2005.

With Prof. Fred Weerman: Robert Cloutier (aio-project ACLC/UvA): ‘West-Germanic OV and VO: The status of exceptions’ Starting date Jan. 1 2004. The project aims to shed more light on word orderuniversals by investigating word order changes both language specifically and comparatively in two related West Germanic languages, i.e. English and Dutch. The approach involves looking at diachronic change as well as synchronic variation.The PhD was successfully defended on February 20, 2009.

With Prof. Hubert Cuykens ( Universityof Leuven,Belgium ): Hendrik de Smet (project funded by FWO): 'Gerundial complements in English. The project investigates the developmentand spread of gerundial complements in English and to explain the underlying mechanisms involved in it. Starting date 2004. The PhD was successfully defended on March 8, 2008, and awarded cum laude.

With Dr. Willem Koopman: Masayuki Ohkado (external PhD, no fixed time period). : ‘Studies in word order in Old English’. PhD was successfully defended on September 6, 2005.

With Prof. Ans van Kemenade: Bettelou Los (NWO project 1995-1999): 'Infinitival Complementation in Old and Midlle English. Phd was awarded cum laude in 1999. The dissertation has appeared in extended form as the Rise of the to-Infinitive, with Oxford University Press in 2005.

Editorship

2012- Member of the editorial board of Anglia

2006 - Co-editor of the Benjamins Series ILL: Iconicity in Language and Literature

2004 - Member of the editorial board of the electronic journal Constructions

2004 - Member of the editorial board of Studies in Language (Benjamins).

2000 - Member of the editorial board of Journal of English Studies, University of Rioja.

1998 - Editor of the Language section of The Year’s Work in English Studies. Oxford UP.

1998 - Member of the Advisory Editorial Board of Studies in English Medieval Language and Literature, Peter Lang, Frankfurt.

1997 - Member of the Advisory Editorial Board of Edinburgh Textbooks in the English Language. Edinburgh UP.

1997 - Member of the editorial board of Links and Letters, University of Barcelona.

1996 - Member of the editorial board of English Language and Linguistics (Cambridge UP).

Constructions

Link

Grants/awards

from NWO:
2004-2005 Grant from NWO for study-leave to write a book for Oxford Univ. Press on ‘Morphosyntactic Change’
1999: for the organization of a symposium on ‘Iconicity in language and Literature’
1994: a four-year grant for an oio-researcher (Bettelou Los) to do a PhD as part of the project on ‘Language variation and change’
1985: for the organization of a workshop on ‘Explanation and Linguistic Change

from the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW):
2002: Grant for the organization of the 2nd conference on ‘New Perspectives on Grammaticalization’
1996: Travel grant for a plenary lecture at the University of Poznan (Poland) for the 9th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics.

1974-1975:
Grant to study for an MA degree as a Harting Scholar at the Universityof Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)

Publications, selection (for a full list of publications, see the iconicity website)

Books and parts of books as (co-)author:

(in prep. ) with Wim van der Wurff, A Brief History of English Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.

(2007)Morpho-syntactic Change. Functional and Formal Perpectives. Oxford: OUP.

(2006) with Wim van der Wurff, 'Syntax', in A History of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP. pp. 109-198.

(2000) With Ans van Kemenade, Willem Koopman en Wim van der Wurff, The Syntax of Early English, Cambridge Syntax Guides, Cambridge University Press.

(1992) 'Syntax', chapter 4 in the Middle English volume (Volume II, 1066-1476) of the Cambridge History of the English Language, ed. by Norman Blake. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 207-408.

(1990) "Syntactic Change and Causation: Developments in Infinitival Constructions in English." Dissertation, University of Amsterdam.