Team > Prof. Dr. Gabriele Sommer
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Sommer
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
African Linguistics I
Gabriele Sommer has been professor of African Linguistics since 2008. After a first degree in African Linguistics, English and Phonetics (Magister) in 1988, she worked on language endangerment in Africa. As a Junior Fellow at the Graduate School on Intercultural Relations in Africa (DFG), she received her PhD in 1993 with a sociolinguistic study on language shift in north-western Botswana.
She then joined a DFG project on Setswana Language Spread at the Goethe University Frankfurt, before working in an interdisciplinary research project on arid regions in Africa at the University of Cologne (SFB, DFG). While Assistant Professor at the University of Bayreuth, she also taught at universities in Russia and Sweden and completed her habilitation on Historical Language Contacts between Afroasiatic and Nilosaharan Languages in 2003. Her research foci are Sociolinguistics, Historical Linguistics and Language Contact with a regional focus in Southern Africa. Currently, she coordinates a DAAD exchange programme and an online language course project on Xhosa in collaboration with colleagues from South Africa (East London).
Academic Degrees
| 2003 | Habilitation: Faculty of Languages & Literature, University of Bayreuth |
| 1994 |
Doctorate: Graduate School (DFG) 'Intercultural Relations in Africa', University of Bayreuth |
| 1988 | Magister degree in African Linguistics (Afrikanistik)/ English/ Phonetics, University of Cologne |
Professional Background
| Since 2008 |
Professor for African Linguistics I (Niger-Congo languages), University of Bayreuth |
| 2001 |
Visiting Scholar at Lomonossov Moscow State University |
| 2000 | Visiting Scholar, Institute of Oriental and African Languages, University of Göteborg |
| 2000 – 2007 |
Research Fellow, African Linguistics II, University of Bayreuth |
| 1996 – 1999 |
Research Associate (SFB 389) 'Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa', University of Cologne |
| 1994 – 1996 | Research Associate, Institute of African Linguistics, Goethe University Frankfurt |
| 1991 – 1993 | Junior fellow, Graduate School 'Intercultural Relations in Africa', University of Bayreuth |
| 1988 – 1990 | Research Associate, Institute of African Linguistics (Afrikanistik), University of Cologne |
Others
- Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Languages & Literature, University of Bayreuth 2015-2018
- Since 2015 Project coordinator for a DAAD exchange programme with the University of Fort Hare, South Africa
- 2012 – 2016 Chairwoman, Fachverband Afrikanistik
- 2009 – 2011 Gender Representative, Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS)
- Since 2009 Senior Fellow, Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS)
- Research visits in Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa)
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
African Linguistics I
Specialisation: Niger Congo; Bantu language family; contacts between Bantu and Khoesan languages. Descriptive and Comparative Aspects of Empirical Research on Speech Acts; on Address Forms; and Systems in African Languages.
Topics: Sociolinguistics; the relationship between speakers, their linguistic repertoires and multilingual societies and settings in Africa; language contact and endangerment; the reconstruction of cultural history; and language comparison from synchronic and diachronic perspectives.
Areal foci: southern Africa (Bantu languages), north-eastern Africa (Afroasiatic-Nilosaharan contacts).
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
African Linguistics I
Publications
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
African Linguistics I
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Sommer
African Linguistics (Lehrstuhl Afrikanistik I)
University of Bayreuth
95440 Bayreuth
Room: 1.07 (GW I)
Fax: +49 (0)921 / 55-3641
Phone: 0921 / 55-3557
E-mail: gabriele.sommer@uni-bayreuth.de