Department of Linguistics

Direktion

Areas of research

In my research, I combine historical and functional-typological approaches to language. I am interested in how grammar changes over time, and what motivates those changes. Most recently, I have become particularly interested in the grammatical category of 'person' and the dynamics we find in this category despite the common perception of this category as a diachronically stable one.

My research has been focusing on the Trans-Himalayan (TH; a.k.a. Sino-Tibetan or Tibeto-Burman) languages of Northeast India. This is where I have a strong background in language description and documentation. My PhD dissertation was A grammar of Karbi, a TH language of Assam, Northeast India. I am currently working on a second grammatical description, of Monsang, a TH language of Manipur, Northeast India. I strongly believe in the mission of the Northeast Indian Linguistics Society, i.e. to build and maintain a reliable and enthusiastic network of international scholars, local Northeast Indian scholars, as well as community activists, to collaborate on the common goals of gaining a better understanding of the Northeast's linguistic diversity.

Through my research on TH languages of Northeast India, my goal is also to contribute to a better understanding of the prehistory of the Eastern Himalayan Region. Here, TH languages have for centuries been in contact with languages of the Indo-European (i.e. Indo-Aryan), Austroasiatic and Tai-Kadai families. Besides, this area is home to the highest density and diversity of TH languages. Historical linguistic research on these languages thus also represents a crucial window into the prehistory of Trans-Himalayan, one of the world's largest language families.

Publications

Monograph

  • Konnerth, Linda. 2020. A grammar of Karbi. Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter.

 

Edited volumes and special issues

  • Konnerth, Linda, and Andrea Sansó. 2021. Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers. Special Issue, Folia Linguistica Historica 55 (s42-s1).
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Scott DeLancey. 2019. Verb agreement systems in languages of the Eastern Himalayan region. Special Issue, Himalayan Linguistics 18(1).
  • Konnerth, Linda, Stephen Morey, and Amos Teo. 2018. North East Indian Linguistics Volume 8. Canberra: Australian National University, Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access.
  • Konnerth, Linda, Stephen Morey, Priyankoo Sarmah, and Amos Teo. 2015. North East Indian Linguistics Volume 7. Canberra: Australian National University, Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access.
  • Hyslop, Gwendolyn, Linda Konnerth, Stephen Morey, and Priyankoo Sarmah. 2014. North East Indian Linguistics Volume 6. Canberra: Australian National University, Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access.

 

Journal articles

  • Konnerth, Linda and Andrea Sansó. 2021. “Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers: Introduction.” Folia Linguistica Historica 55 (s42-s1): 1–24.
  • Ozerov, Pavel and Linda Konnerth. 2021. “Multiple functions of the inclusive: Examining synchronic variation in light of diachronic shift in South-Central Trans-Himalayan.” Folia Linguistica Historica 55 (s42-s1): 175–204.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2021. “On the nature of inverse systems: The rise of inverse marking via antipassive constructions.” Diachronica 38 (1): 25–63. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.18055.kon
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2020. “Recycling through perspective persistence in Monsang (Trans-Himalayan): Reconstructing the desiderative from a reported intentionality construction.” Functions of Language 27 (1): 55–77.
  • Konnerth, Linda, Stephen Morey, Mijke Mulder, Mark W. Post, Kellen Parker van Dam. 2020. “Languages and Peoples of the Eastern Himalayan Region and the North East Indian Linguistics Society: Taking stock.” Languages and Peoples of the Eastern Himalayan Region, Himalayan Linguistics 19(2): 1–8.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Scott DeLancey. 2019. “Introduction to verb agreement systems in languages of the Eastern Himalayan region.” Himalayan Linguistics 18(1): 1–7.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Koninglee Wanglar. 2019. “Person indexation in Monsang from a diachronic perspective.” Himalayan Linguistics 18 (1): 54–77.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Chikari Tisso. 2018. “Karbi texts: A fully glossed corpus of different genres.” Himalayan Linguistics Archive 17 (2): 117–472.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2018. “The historical phonology of Monsang (Northwestern South-Central/“Kuki-Chin”): A case of reduction in phonological complexity.” Himalayan Linguistics 17 (1): 19–49.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2016. “The Proto-Tibeto-Burman nominalizing prefix *gV-.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 39 (1): 3–32.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2015. “A new type of convergence at the deictic center: Second person and cislocative in Karbi (Tibeto-Burman).” Studies in Language 39 (1): 24–45.

 

Book chapters

  • Konnerth, Linda. 2022. “On the phylogenetic status of the Northwestern subbranch of South-Central (“Kuki-Chin”): A case study in historical phonology.” In Ethno-linguistic prehistory of the Eastern Himalaya, edited by Mark W. Post, Stephen Morey, and Toni Huber, 294–322. Leiden: Brill.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2017. “Karbi.” In The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd edition, edited by Randy J. LaPolla and Graham Thurgood, 302-321. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.
  • Joseph, U.V., and Linda Konnerth. 2015. “Using Eastern Indo-Aryan borrowings in Tiwa to help model the contact scenarios: A case study in loanword phonology.” In Language and culture in Northeast India and beyond: In honor of Robbins Burling, edited by Mark Post, Stephen Morey, and Scott DeLancey, 140–161. Canberra: Australian National University, Asia-Pacific Linguistics.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Amos Teo. 2014. “Acoustic-statistical and perceptual investigations of Karbi tones: A peculiar case of incomplete neutralisation of F0.” In North East Indian Linguistics Volume 6, edited by Gwendolyn Hyslop, Linda Konnerth, Stephen Morey, and Priyankoo Sarmah, 13-37. Canberra: Australian National University, Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2014. “Additive Focus and Additional Functions of Karbi (Tibeto-Burman) =tā.” In Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, edited by Kayla Carpenter, Oana David, Florian Lionnet, Christine Sheil, Tammy Stark, and Vivian Wauters, 206–222. Berkeley, CA: eLanguage (Linguistic Society of America).
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2012. “The nominalizing velar prefix *gV- in Tibeto-Burman languages of Northeast India.” In North East Indian Linguistics Volume 4, edited by Gwendolyn Hyslop, Stephen Morey, and Mark W. Post, 58-80. New Delhi: Foundation/Cambridge University Press India.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2011. “Functions of nominalization in Karbi.” In North East Indian Linguistics Volume 3, edited by Gwendolyn Hyslop, Stephen Morey, and Mark W. Post, 120-34. New Delhi: Foundation/Cambridge University Press India.

 

Data publication and archiving

  • Konnerth, Linda, and Chikari Tisso. 2020. “Karbi texts: Original recordings of a corpus of different genres.” London: SOAS, Endangered Languages Archive. URL: http://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI1301259.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Koninglee Wanglar. 2019. “A grammar of Monsang, an endangered language of Manipur, India: an archive of audio(-video) recordings and related materials.” London: SOAS, Endangered Languages Archive. URL: https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI852858.

 

Book reviews/notices/reports

  • Konnerth, Linda. 2014. “Review of Functional-historical approaches to explanation by Tim Thornes, Joana Jansen, Erik Andvik, Gwendolyn Hyslop (Eds.).” Himalayan Linguistics 13 (1): 94–99.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2013. “Report on the 46th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (ICSTLL).” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 36 (2): 139–41.
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2012. “Book notice of Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and Typological Perspectives by Foong Ha Yap, Karen Grunow-Hårsta, Janick Wrona (Eds.).” e-Language (Linguistic Society of America).
  • Konnerth, Linda. 2011. “Review of A Grammar of Sunwar: Descriptive grammar, paradigms, texts and glossary by Dörte Borchers.” Studies in Language 35 (2): 451–7.
  • Konnerth, Linda, and Dan Wood. 2008. “Report on NEILS 3.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 30 (2): 173–6.

Research

My current research projects include

1) Uncovering the dynamics of person marking: A construction-based approach in historical microtypology (funded by the German Research Foundation, Emmy-Noether Program, University of Cologne, 2021-2023)

This project, which had to be terminated before properly taking off due to my move to the University of Bern, intended to investigate the diachronic dynamics of person markers. That is, how particular person markers (rather than entire paradigms) change, and more specifically, how this happens in particular constructions. The goal was to offer the first systematic approach to understanding the specific ways in which person markers can and do change over time, through a historical microtypology study on the South-Central (SC; “Kuki-Chin”) branch of Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan). I am currently re-planning this research and hoping to begin a new project on the same topic in the near future.

2) A grammar of Monsang (funded by the National Science Foundation, USA, Grant # BCS-1360632 "Documenting the language of Manipur: Clues to the prehistory of Sino-Tibetan languages" to Scott DeLancey (PI), University of Oregon, USA, 2014-2020)

A comprehensive state-of-the-art grammar of Monsang, a South-Central Trans-Himalayan language of Manipur, Northeast India. Main Monsang collaborator: Mr. Koninglee Wanglar. Two major outcomes are a diverse corpus of Monsang (Konnerth and Wanglar 2019) and a grammatical description, currently in preparation. Further outcomes of this project are reported in the following publications:

Konnerth, Linda. To appear 2022: "On the phylogenetic status of the Northwestern subbranch of South-Central ("Kuki-Chin"): A case study in historical phonology." In Ethno-linguistic prehistory of the Eastern Himalaya, edited by Toni Huber, Stephen Morey, and Mark Post. Brill.

Ozerov, Pavel and Linda Konnerth. 2021. “Multiple functions of the inclusive: Examining synchronic variation in light of diachronic shift in South-Central Trans-Himalayan.” Folia Linguistica Historica 55 (s42-s1): 175–204.

Konnerth, Linda. 2020. "On the nature of inverse systems: The rise of inverse marking via antipassive constructions." Diachronica. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.18055.kon

Konnerth, Linda. 2020. "Recycling through perspective persistence in Monsang (Trans-Himalayan): Reconstructing the desiderative from a reported intentionality construction." Functions of Language 27 (1): 55-77.

Konnerth, Linda, and Koninglee Wanglar. 2019. "A gramar of Monsang, an endangered language of Manipur, India: an archive of audio(-video) recordings and related materials." London: SOAS, Endangered Languages Archive. URL: https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI852858

Konnerth, Linda, and Scott DeLancey. 2019. "Introduction to verb agreement systems in languages of the Eastern Himalayan region." Himalayan Linguistics 18(1): 1-7.

Konnerth, Linda, and Koninglee Wanglar. 2019. "Person indexation in Monsang from a diachronic perspective." Himalayan Linguistics 18(1): 54-77

Konnerth, Linda. 2018. "The historical phonology of Monsang (Northwestern South-Central/"Kuki-Chin"): A case of reduction in phonological complexity." Himalayan Linguistics 17(1): 19-49.

3) The Karbi Song Language: Words of traditional knowledge and evidence of historical language contact, in collaboration with Sikari Tisso (funded by the Firebird Foundation, USD $5,620, 2016-present)

A project to document the Karbi Song Language. Outcomes consist of a corpus of Karbi songs with a total of 15 hours of recordings as well as a dictionary of the Karbi Song Language with 632 entries, currently in preparation for publication.

 

Grants

Emmy Noether Program, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation), Uncovering the dynamics of person marking: A construction-based approach in historical microtypology. 2020.

Funding program Kleine Fächer - Große Potenziale, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), Die Konservativität und Komplexität Kleiner Sprachen: Sino-Tibetische Frühgeschichte mit spezieller Relevanz für eine diachrone Typologie verbaler Personenmarkierung (The conservativeness and complexity of small languages: Sino-Tibetan prehistory with special relevance for a diachronic typology of verbal person marking) (€ 285,018), 2019-2022. Declined due to an offer (Akadem. Rätin a.Z.) at the University of Regensburg

Fellowship for the Documentation of Oral Literature and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Firebird Foundation, The Karbi Song Language: Words of traditional knowledge and evidence of historical language contact (USD $5,620), with Sikari Tisso, 2016

Small Professional Grants, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (University of Oregon), 2012, 2010, 2008

Graduate Student Research Grant, Center for the Study of Women in Society (University of Oregon), The Status of Women in Karbi Society, 2011

Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, National Science Foundation # BCS-0951749, Doctoral Dissertation Research: A descriptive grammar of Karbi (USD $11,995), 2010

 

Awards

Second Prize in Best paper presentation by a postdoctoral researcher competition, 50th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE). Zurich, Switzerland, 2017

Panini Award best grammar passed as a dissertation in the years 2011-2014, Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT), 2015

First Prize in 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at the University of Oregon, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxUxIPfDr6I

Graduate Dissertation Fellowship, The Oregon Humanities Center, University of Oregon, 2012

Gary E. Smith Summer Professional Development Award, funding attendance of the Summer Linguistic Institute "Language in the World" of the Linguistic Society of America, 2011

Fellowship to attend SWL IV conference in Lyon, France, SWL IV organizing committee, CNRS and Université Lumière Lyon II, 2010

Jahresstipendium für Studierende aller Fächer (One-year scholarship for students of any major), Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD/German Academic Exchange Service, 2006-2007

Teaching

At the University of Regensburg

35000 Einführung in die Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft
35002 Morphologie und Syntax 35003 Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten
35010-1 Einführung in eine nicht-indogermanische Sprache: Monsang I & II
35016 Sprachwissenschaftliche Feldforschungsmethoden
35019 Forschungskolloquium
35019 Hauptseminar Typologie: Diachrone Typologie der Personenmarkierung

At the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

‘MA-level seminar: The dynamics of person marking systems: Diachrony, morphosyntax, sociopragmatics’ – Winter 2017/18

At Manipur University, Imphal, Manipur, India

‘MA-level seminar: Tibeto-Burman reading class’ - Winter 2014/15; Winter 2015/16

At the University of Oregon

LING 101 'Introduction to Language’ - Spring 2014
LING 150 'The Structure of English Words' - Fall 2009
LING 150 WEB 'The Structure of English Words' (online class) - Summer 2010; Fall 2013
LING 301 'Introduction to Linguistic Analysis' - Summer 2013
LING 405 - Supervisor for independent study 'Himalayan Languages' - Summer 2011
GER 202 '2nd Year German’ - Winter 2013, Winter 2014

Workshops

‘Training and Resources for Indigenous Community Linguists’ (TRICL1). Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Sessions on Phonetics/Phonology, Transcription, and Text processing. January 25-29, 2016.

‘Workshop on Tibeto-Burman languages of Northeast India: From recordings to analysis.’ Assam University, Silchar campus. 3 full days. September 28-30, 2016.

CV

Curriculum Vitae

 
   
Since February 2023 Assistant Professor for Historical Linguistics, Institute for Linguistics, University of Bern
Since August 2021 Research Group Leader (Nachwuchsgruppenleiterin), Institute for Linguistics (General Linguistics), University of Cologne, DFG Emmy Noether project: Uncovering the dynamics of person marking: A construction-based approach in historical microtypology
September 2019 - July 2021 Assistant Professor (non-tenure-track) (Akademische Rätin a.Z.), Department of Linguistics, University of Regensburg
October 2016 - August 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow, Martin Buber Society of Fellows, Project: Hierarchical indexation in Kuki-Chin languages, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
June 2014 - September 2016 Postdoctoral Research Associate, NSF Grant # BCS-1360632 "Documenting the languages of Manipur: Clues to the prehistory of Sino-Tibetan languages" (Co-PI), Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon
March - June 2014 Adjunct Instructor, Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon
2014 PhD Linguistics, The University of Oregon, Dissertation: A grammar of Karbi, Committee: Scott DeLancey (chair), Spike Gildea, Doris Payne, Zhuo Jing-Schmidt
2009 M.A. Linguistics, The University of Oregon, Thesis: The nominalizing prefix *gV - in Tibeto-Burman, Committee: Scott DeLancey (chair), Spike Gildea