Academic CV

since February 2013
W3 professorship for English linguistics and medieval literature at LMU
2007 - 2013
W3 professorship for English linguistics at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
2008: call to a professorship to the University of Zurich and University of Heidelberg (declined)
1998-2007
Research assistant at the Institute for English Philology at LMU Munich
1995
Doctorate (Dr. phil.)
1991 - 1998
Research assistant at the Institute of English Philology at the University of Munich and KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
1989-1991
Referendariat (teaching at secondary schools: 2. Staatsexamen)
1982-1988
Studies in English and Catholic Religious Education at LMU Munich
1988
Degrees: Master of Arts and 1. Staatsexamen for teaching at secondary schools

Academic Profile

Historical linguistics – language change in English, particularly

  • historical syntax
  • historical pragmatics and
  • historical text linguistics

Literature and culture of early medieval England, particularly

  • runic and Latin literacy in Anglo-Saxon England
  • Manuscripts: textual composition of Latin and Old English texts
  • Old English and Latin liturgical texts

Books

Editorial Work: journal / series

Editorial Work:anthologies

  • Ursula Lenker & Gabriele Rippl. 2021. Book Histories in the Digital Age. Special Issue Anglia 139:1.
  • (Zu-)Hören Interdisziplinär, eds. Magdalena Zorn & Ursula Lenker. Münchner Veröffentlichungen zur Musikgeschichte Sonderband 1, München: Allitera Verlag, 2018.
  • Connectives in Synchrony and Diachrony in European Languages, ed. Anneli Meurman-Solin & Ursula Lenker, Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English 8, Helsinki: VARIENG, 2011, <http://www.helsinki.fi/varieng/journal/volumes/08/>.
  • 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, ed. Ursula Lenker, Judith Huber & Robert Mailhammer, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 314, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2010, x + 280 S.
  • Connectives in the History of English, ed. Ursula Lenker & Anneli Meurman-Solin, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 283, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2007, viii + 311 S.
  • Bookmarks from the Past: Studies in Early English Language and Literature in Honour of Helmut Gneuss, ed. Lucia Kornexl & Ursula Lenker, Münchener Universitätsschriften, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Englischen Philologie 30, Frankfurt: Lang, 2003, xxxiii + 319 S.

Content editing

  • [zusammen mit Marianne Hundt] Sektionsbeiträge der "Section V: Modern English in the Making", Anglistentag 2005 Bamberg: Proceedings, ed. Christoph Houswitschka, Gabriele Knappe & Anja Müller, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2006, 43–557.

Articles

Encyclopaedia entries and shorter articles

  • "How to Grapple with Meaning", OED Symposium Newsletter 5 (2013), <www.oedsymposium.com/app>.
  • [zusammen mit Hans Sauer] "Das englische Mittelalter im Film", Das Mittelalter, 2005 [Zusammenfassung für den Tagungsbericht Englische Sprachwissenschaft und Mediävistik: Standpunkte und Perspektiven].
  • [zusammen mit Lucia Kornexl] "Bookmarks from the Past: Studies in Early English Language and Literature in Honour of Helmut Gneuss", English and American Studies in German 2003, ed. Horst Weinstock, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2004, 41–43 [englischsprachige Zusammenfassung des Bandes].
  • "The West Saxon Gospels and the Gospel-Lectionary in Anglo-Saxon England", English and American Studies in German 1997, ed. Horst Weinstock, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1998, 8–11 [englischsprachige Zusammenfassung der Dissertation].
  • "Wulfstan v. Winchester (Cantor)", Lexikon des Mittelalters, Band IX, München: LexMA Verlag, 1998, 349.

Reviews

  • Conference "Viking Things: Objects and Agency in Old Norse Culture", Siemens-Stiftung / LMU Skandinavistik München, 15. September 2023
    "Speaking Objects in Early English Literature"
  • Guest lecture Universität Zürich, Lecture Series “Variation and Change in the History of the English Lexicon”, 21 March 2023
    “Meanings and Functions of ‑lic(e)/‑ly in the History of English”
  • Symposium “Historical English Word-Formation”, LMU München, 18 February 2023
    “Morphologically Marking Epistemicity in the History of English: English -ly and the Functional Diversification of English Adverbs”
  • Ninth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Sankelmark, 17 Juni 2022 “Maker-Formulae in Anglo-Saxon Literacy: Runic and Beyond”
  • Eleventh International Conference on Middle English (ICOME 11), University of Florence (Italy), 6 February 2019
    ““Assay, and he shal fynde it that so dooth”: Imperatives in Middle English Verbal Interaction”
  • Ringvorlesung ZMR, LMU (zum Thema „Herrschaft und Widerstand“), 29. November 2018
    „Zur Herrschaft der Frau über den Mann im englischen Spätmittelalter - Die Maistrie von Chaucers Wife of Bath“
  • ICEHL XX Edinburgh, Workshop “Paratextual Communication in a Historical Linguistic Perspective”, 28 August 2018
    “Anglo-Saxon Paratexts: Liminal Material in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts”
  • Guest lecture, Universität Augsburg, 28. Juni 2018
    “‘There's an issue there ...’: Signalling Functions of Discourse-Deictic There in the History of English”
  • Guest lecture, Universität Stavanger (Norwegen), 1. Juni 2018
    “Anglo-Saxon Microtexts: Language and Communicative Functions”
  • Symposium “Anglo-Saxon Micro-Texts”
    LMU München, 3.-4. November 2017
    “Anglo-Saxon Micro-Texts: Introduction”
  • Symposium “Some Thoughts on Language and Language Change”
    Università degli Studi di Firenze, 10. Oktober 2017
    “‘There's an issue there ...’: Signalling Functions of Discourse-Deictic There in the History of English”
  • Conference „(Zu-)Hören“, Interdisziplinäre Tagung
    Orff-Zentrum München, 29. Juni 2017
    “Einführung“
  • ICAME
    Prag, 23. Mai 2017
    Workshop “Back to text: Contextualizing corpus data in historical and variationist English linguistics” (convenors: Kristin Bech / Ruth Möhlig),
    “Reclaiming Space and Time - The Manuscript Context of Old English Biblical and Homiletic Texts in the Helsinki Corpus”
  • 19th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Duisburg-Essen, 22–26 August 2016
    Workshop "Intersubjectivity and the Emergence of Grammatical Patterns in the History of English" (convenors: Sylvie Hancil, Alexander Haselow)
    "You may have a point there: On the Development of Intersubjective there"
  • Medieval Conference "Feast and Famine"
    Leeds, 4 July 2016
    Roundtable discussion organized by the Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America: "More Famine than Feast? Preparing for the Academic Job Search"
  • Linguistisches Kolloquium
    LMU Munich, 9 December 2015
    "Wenn Konnektoren spalten: Zur Prosodie von Adverbien in Mittelstellung im Englischen"
  • International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS) 2015
    Glasgow, 7 August 2015
    "Anglo-Saxon Microtexts: Language and Communicative Functions"
  • Guest lectures, Universität Augsburg and Universität Würzburg
    Augsburg, 15 January 2014 and Würzburg, 11 November 2014
    "Wenn Konnektoren spalten: Zur Mittelstellung von Adverbien im Englischen"
  • The Subcarpathian Studies in English Language, Literature and Culture; The 3rd Rzeszów Anglistentag
    Rzeszów, 22 April 2013
    "'Waiter, there’s a horse in my lasagna': Animals and their Meats in the History of English" (plenary talk)
  • 17th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Zurich, 23 August 2012
    "Knitting and Splitting Information: Medial Placement of Adverbials in the History of English" (keynote presentation)
  • 17th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Zurich, 23 August 2012
    [with Lucia Kornexl] "Disentangling 'an Enduring Myth': The Lexical 'Animal-Meat' Divide in English as a Model Case for the Dynamics of Borrowing"
  • Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
    Eichstätt, 28 November 2011
    Interdisziplinäre Ringvorlesung "K'Universale: Scheitern"
    "Gescheiterte Kommunikation: Missverstehen und Missverständnisse"
  • Universität Göttingen
    Göttingen, 31 May 2010
    "Der Artus-Mythos im Film"
  • Workshop "Connectives in synchrony and diachrony in European languages"
    Helsinki, 16 April 2010
    "A Focus on Adverbial Connectors: Connecting and Focussing in the History of English" (keynote lecture)
  • Universität Erlangen
    Erlangen, 12 January 2009
    "Forþæm, hence, after all: Variation und Sprachwandel in der Geschichte kausaler Konnektoren des Englischen" (guest lecture)
  • Anglistentag 2008
    Tübingen, 5 October 2008
    Section "Borders and Transitions in Language, Literature and Culture" (convenors: Andrew James Johnston, Hans Sauer)
    "The Language Divide: The Long Nineteenth Century from a Linguistic Point of View"
  • Vorlesungsreihe des Zentrums für Mittelalter- und Renaissance-Forschung
    LMU Munich, 10 July 2008
    "Der Artus-Mythos im Film"
  • 10. LIPP-Symposium "Sprachwandel und Variation"
    LMU Munich, 9 November 2007
    "Forþæm, hence, after all: Variation und Sprachwandel in der Geschichte kausaler Konnektoren des Englischen"
  • OED Forum
    Oxford, 30 March 2007
    "After all – moreover – swaþeahhwæþere: The Present and Past of Adverbial Connectors"
  • 14th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Bergamo, 21–25 August 2006
    "Sentence-Final Coordinators and Long-Term Linguistic Change in English"
  • Anglistentag 2005
    Bamberg, 18–21 September 2005
    Organization of, chair of and introduction to the section "Modern English in the Making" [with Marianne Hundt, Universität Heidelberg]
  • Anglistentag 2004
    Aachen, 26–29 September 2004
    Section "England in the Middle Ages: Language, Literature, and Culture"
    "Forhwi 'hence': Shifting Deictics in Early English Causal Connection"
  • 13th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Vienna, 23–28 August 2004
    Convenor: Workshop "Clausal Connection in the History of English" [with Anneli Meurman-Solin, University of Helsinki]
  • Englische Sprachwissenschaft und Mediävistik: Standpunkte und Perspektiven
    Bamberg, 21–22 May 2004
    [with Hans Sauer] "Das englische Mittelalter im Film"
  • Englische Sprachwissenschaft und Mediävistik: Standpunkte und Perspektiven
    Bamberg, 21–22 May 2004
    Statements, chair of closing discussion
  • Halig Rod: The Cross in Anglo-Saxon England
    Winchester, 4–6 July 2003
    "The Sign of the Cross and the Gospels in Anglo-Saxon England: A Semiotic Study of Words Denoting CROSS in Old English"
  • Universität Innsbruck, Austria
    Innsbruck, 21 November 2002
    "Conjuncts in the History of English" (guest lecture)
  • 12th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Glasgow, 22–26 August 2002
    "Conjuncts: Their Semantic and Functional Development in the History of English"
  • 12th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Glasgow, 22–26 August 2002
    Workshop on Historical Pragmatics
    "Soþlice, forsothe, truly: Truth, Facts, Adverbs and Historical Pragmatics"
  • 11th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Santiago de Compostela, 7–11 September 2000
    "Is It, Stylewise or Otherwise, Wise to Use -wise? Domain Adverbs and the History of English -wise"
  • Ritual and Belief in Anglo-Saxon England
    Oxford, 7–9 July 2000
    "Gospel Lections and Preaching in the Vernacular in the Anglo-Saxon Period"
  • New Reflections on Grammaticalization: An International Symposium
    Potsdam, 17–19 June 1999
    "Actually: soþlice, soothly, trewely, indeed: Grammaticalization of Truth-intensifying Adverbs in the History of English"
  • 10th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
    Manchester, 21–28 August 1998
    "Social Networks in Old English: The Benedictine Reform, the 'Winchester Vocabulary' and Standardisation in Old English"
  • Words, Lexemes, Concepts: Approaches to the Lexicon.
    Symposium in Honour of Leonhard Lipka on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday
    Munich, 13–15 June 1998
    "gerles, girls, grrrlz – Girlpower!"
  • International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Tenth Conference
    Düsseldorf, 10–17 August 1997
    "Soþlice and witodlice: Discourse Markers in Old English"
  • International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, Eighth Conference
    Palermo, 7–12 July 1997
    "The Gospel-Lectionary in Anglo-Saxon England: Manuscript Evidence and Liturgical Practice"

Member of the editorial board of

  • Dictionary of Old English (University of Toronto; seit September 2014)
  • VARIENG: Research Unit for the Study of Variation, Contacts and Change in English (University of Helsinki, Finnland; seit Januar 2013)
  • Elected member of the Advisory Board of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (2009–2011)
  • Old English Newsletter (ed. Stephen Harris, University of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA) (seit April 2006)
  • Atlantis: A Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies (2005–2014; Gutachtertätigkeiten Aufsätze und Rezensionen)

Other reviewing activities

  • External member of the doctoral programme at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy) (since 2017)
  • Member of the Scientific Committee of the 19th International Conference of English Historical Linguistics, Duisburg und Essen, Deutschland (2015/2016)
  • Reviewer for the Dean of the Language Faculty, Uppsala University, Sweden (2015)
  • Reviewer for the dissertation prize of the Anglistenverbandes (Anglistentag Paderborn 2015)
  • External examiner for Master theses and examinations at the Stavanger University Norway (2014)
  • Member of the Scientific Board of the 18th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, Leuven, Belgium (2013/2014)
  • Reviewer for the Research Foundation Flanders – FWO (Belgien) (2011, 2012)
  • Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the 17th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, Zürich, Switzerland (2011/2012)
  • Member of the German Research Council’s working group on research rating in the field of English and American StudiesWissenschaftsrates zum Forschungsrating im Bereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik (2011/2012)
  • Advisory Board Member for the project The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 (heads: Mary Swan, Leeds; Elaine Treharne, Leicester, GB; 2005–2010)

Reviewing activities for journals and publishers

  • monographs / anthologies: Benjamins, Cambridge University Press, Narr, Oxford University Press, Routledge
  • various journals of linguistics and medieval studies, including Diachronica,English Language and Linguistics, Functions of Language, Journal of English Linguistics,Journal of Historical Pragmatics, Lingua, Linguistics and the Human Sciences, Review of English Studies, Token: A Journal of English Linguistics

RuneS

  • Runische Schriftlichkeit in den germanischen Sprachen - Runic Writing in the Germanic Languages (Union der Akademien) mehr

Ongoing dissertations

  • Berkl-Horn, Annette: Lateinisch-englische und englisch-lateinische Lexikographie im England des 15. Jahrhunderts.
  • Ganz, Yannick: Insults in the History of English
  • Gerstbrein, Heike: Negotiating Crisis in Anglo-Saxon England.
  • Molinari, Alessandra: Somatic Cosmology in the Poetry of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11.
  • Sprau, Melanie: Binomials and Multinomials in Sir Thomas Elyot’s The Boke Named The Gouernour: Structures and Functions
  • Varela Villaverde, David: Comment Clauses in the History of English: A Constructional View on Forms, Positions and Functions

Completed dissertations

  • Harthan, Carolin: "Linking Adverbials in Written Academic English: Usage Patterns and Functions"; completed 2020: Munich Studies in English, vol. 49 (Peter Lang, 2022).
  • Hauf, Christoph: "Construction and Complementation of Verbs of Speaking in the History of English"; completed 2019; published: Munich Studies in English 47 (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2021) [Verbs of Speaking and the Linguistic Expression of COMMUNICATION in the History of English].
  • Huber, Judith: "Motion and the English Verb. A Diachronic Study"; completed 2013; published: Oxford Studies in the History of English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
  • Mauk, Renate: "Linguistische Analyse von Geschäftsschildern im räumlichen und zeitlichen Vergleich. Eine Untersuchung in Deutschland, Österreich, der deutsch-sprachigen Schweiz, Frankreich und England", completed 2022.
  • Skiba, Michael : "Participle-based Prepositions in the History of English"; completed 2019; published: English and Beyond 13 (Munich: Utz, 2021) [Participial Prepositions and Conjunctions in the History of English].

Completed habilitations

  • Elsweiler, Christine: “From Shared Meaning to Divergent Pragmatics: A Comparative Study of the Modal Auxiliaries May, Can, Shall and Will in Scottish and English Letters (1500–1700)”; completed 2019.