Christian Rathmann

Christian Rathmann (born September 3, 1970 ) is a German linguist and head of the Deaf Studies and Sign Language Interpreting Department at the Institute for Rehabilitation Sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Previously, he was a professor at the Department of Language, Literature and Media Studies I at the University of Hamburg . He is the first deaf professor in Germany and the successor to the founder of the Institute for German Sign Language, Siegmund Prillwitz .

Life

After attending the deaf school in Erfurt, Christian Rathmann studied linguistics in Hamburg and Austin (Texas) and received his doctorate (PhD) in 2005 from the University of Texas . In his dissertation he dealt with the event structure in American sign language . Since then he has taught at various institutions such as the LSA Summer School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Ohio State University and the University of Bristol . His main research interests are linguistic structure and function, language acquisition , language learning and use, and deaf studies .

Christian Rathmann is co-founder of the international network of deaf academics DeafAcademics.org.

Publications

• G. Mathur and C. Rathmann: Why not GIVE-US: an articulatory constraint in signed languages. In: V. Dively, M. Metzger, S. Taub and AM Baer (eds.): Signed languages: discoveries from international research. Washington, DC .: Gallaudet University Press.
• G. Mirus, C. Rathmann and RP Meier: Proximalization and distalization of sign movement in adult learners. In: V. Dively, M. Metzger, S. Taub and AM Baer (eds.): Signed languages: discoveries from international research. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
• C. Rathmann and G. Mathur: Is verb agreement the same cross-modally? In: RP Meier, KA Cormier and D. Quinto-Pozos (Eds.): Modality and structure in signed language and spoken language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• G. Mathur and C. Rathmann: Variability in verbal agreement forms across four signed languages. In: L. Goldstein, C. Best and D. Whalen (Eds.): Laboratory Phonology VIII: Varieties of Phonological Competence. The Hague: Mouton.
• C. Rathmann and G. Mathur: Verb agreement as a linguistic innovation in signed languages. In: J. Quer (Ed.): Signs of the Time: Selected papers from TISLR 2004. Hamburg, Germany: Signum Verlag.