Iwar Werlen

Iwar Werlen (born February 21, 1947 in Brig ) is a Swiss linguist . As a full professor, he held the chair for general linguistics and co-director of the Institute for Linguistics at the University of Bern . He has been retired since August 1, 2012, but is teaching at the University of Bern until further notice. He is considered a leading exponent of multilingualism research far beyond the Swiss national borders.

Life

Born in Brig (VS) in 1947, Iwar Werlen passed his Matura in Stans (NW) in 1967 . After studying theology and philosophy, he studied German , philosophy and general linguistics at the University of Bern from 1971 to 1975 . In 1974 he obtained a licentiate in German linguistics and dialectology and passed the additional examination in general linguistics, followed by his doctorate in 1975 summa cum laude in German linguistics and dialectology at the University of Bern.

Scientific activity

From 1973 to 1978 he held an assistantship at the University of Bern, in addition he was a part-time professeur assistant for the German language at the University of Lausanne (1978-1984). With his habilitation thesis, supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Janggen-Pöhn Foundation on the subject of "Ritual and Language", he completed his habilitation in 1981 at the University of Bern and was appointed private lecturer with the venia docendi for general linguistics.

From 1984 to 1987 he worked as senior assistant at the University of Bern and from 1984 to 1989 he was a part-time chargé de cours at the University of Geneva. At the same time he held a deputy professorship for German linguistics at the University of Mannheim, where he was subsequently appointed Professor C2 for German linguistics.

In 1988 he was elected associate professor for general linguistics at the University of Bern. After visiting scholarships in Los Angeles with Bernard Comrie and at the University of California with E. Keenan and at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City (Philippines), he was appointed full professor of general linguistics at the University of Bern in 1992.

research

In addition to dialectology, the most important research areas Iwar Werlen deals with include multilingualism, onomastics , language and ritual, the Filipino languages , linguistic relativity and conversation research. From 2007 to 2010 he was the coordinator of LINEE (Languages ​​in a Network of European Excellence), an EU-supported Network of Excellence on the topic of linguistic diversity in Europe. He led several projects of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to promote scientific research and other foundations.

In addition to his academic work at the University of Bern, he is currently President of the Board of Trustees for the Upper Valais place and field name book in Brig-Glis, established by the State Council of the Canton of Valais .

In 2008 Iwar Werlen's work was honored with the Prix Rünzi from Valais.

bibliography

• List of publications by Iwar Werlen (PDF; 61 kB)

swell

• Andrea Ender, Adrian Leemann, Bernhard Wälchli (Eds.): Methods in Contemporary Linguistics . de Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-028466-9 (= Trends in Linguistics ). Festschrift for the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr. Iwar Werlen.

Web links

• Program “The Club” SFDRS on April 27, 2010 on the topic “Bonjour, grüezi, hello? Do you understand Swiss? " The Geneva National Councilor Antonio Hodgers wants to banish the dialect language completely in the private sphere and raise the standard German to the public language in general. Many German-speaking Swiss don't like that. How important is the dialect for identity
• Podcast of “The Tower of Babel and its Consequences”, lecture Prof. Dr. Iwar Werlen on Faculty Day
• Iwar Werlen at the Institute for Linguistics at the University of Bern
• Iwar Werlen, coordinator of LINEE (Languages ​​in a Network of European Excellence)