Dr. Christian Uffmann
Postdoc
Floor/Room: 02.101
Office Hours
Thursday 11-12 h and by appointment.
Main areas of research
- Phonology: English phonology, phonological theory
- Language contact: creole languages, loanword adaptation
- Language change
- Sociolinguistics
Short CV
Educational background
I studied at the University of Marburg (English Linguistics, Sociology and Media Studies; M.A. 1998), where I also obtained my Dr. phil in 2004 on ‘Vowel Epenthesis in Loanword Phonology’.
Positions held
I have been a ‘Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter’ at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf since October 2013.
From January 2008 until October 2013 I was Lecturer (since 2012 Senior Lecturer) for English Language and Linguistics at the University of Sussex, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate classes in English and General Linguistics.
From October 2005 until the end of 2007 I was a postdoc at CASTL (Center for the Advanced Study of Theoretical Linguistics) at Universitetet i Tromsø, working on issues of segmental phonology and distinctive feature theory.
In the spring of 2005 I was substitute professor of German Linguistics at the Università degli studi di Trento.
From 1999 until 2005 I worked as a ‘Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter’ (teaching and research assistant) at the University of Marburg, also teaching a range of undergraduate classes in English Linguistics.
Grants
- DAAD scholarship for doctoral students 1998/9. Ohio State University.
Other achievements and distinctions
- Assistant Secretary of the Linguistic Association of Great Britain (LAGB), since 2012.
- External examiner at the University of Edinburgh (2011-2013)
- External examiner at Universitetet i Tromsø (since 2009)
- Winner of the Sussex Teaching Award 2012
- Member of the advisory board for the annual Manchester Phonology Meeting (MfM), since 2007
- Peer review for a number of academic journals and funding agencies
Publications
Monographs
- Uffmann, Christian. in prep. Distinctive Feature Theory. Cambridge University Press.
- Uffmann, Christian. in prep. English Phonology and Phonological Theory. Edinburgh University Press.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2007. Vowel Epenthesis in Loanword Adaptation (Linguistische Arbeiten 510). Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Edited
- Kenstowicz, Michael & Christian Uffmann (eds.). 2006. Loanword Phonology: Current Issues. Special issue of Lingua 116(7).
Articles
- Uffmann, Christian. in prep. ‘The organization of features’. In: Kuniya Nasukawa, Bridget Samuels, Geoff Schwartz & Miklós Törkenczy (eds), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Phonology (2nd ed). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Uffmann, Christian. in prep. ‘Underspecification in the English short vowel system(s)’. In: Patrick Honeybone & Martin Krämer (eds), English Phonology and Phonological Theory. Cambridge University Press.
- Uffmann, Christian. in print. ‘Epenthesis as a matter of faith’. Language Science.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2022. ‘Towards a model of gender assignments in loanwords.’ In: Jasmin Pfeifer, Sabine Arndt-Lappe, Heidrun Dorgeloh, Gero Kunter & Christian Uffmann (eds), INGO 6.0: The Proceedings, 53-74.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2021. ‘London calling (or cooling?): Feature theory, phonetic variation, and phonological change’. Yearbook of the PLM 7, 181-215.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2019. ‘Beyond markedness: default segmentism revisited’. Phonological Studies 22, 119-128.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2017. ‘World Englishes and phonological theory’. In: Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola & Devyani Sharma (eds), Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford University Press, 63-83.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2015. ‘Loanword adaptation’. In: Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds), Handbook of Historical Phonology. Oxford University Press, 644-665.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2014. World Englishes and phonological theory. In Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola & Devyani Sharma (eds.), Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2013. Set the controls for the heart of the alternation: Dahl’s Law in Kitharaka. Nordlyd 40. 323-337.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2013. Loanword adaptation. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), Handbook of Historical Phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2011. The organisation of distinctive features. In Colin Ewen, Elizabeth Hume & Marc van Oostendorp (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Phonology (4 vols). Oxford: Blackwell. 643-668.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2010. Constraint-based phonology. In Bert Botma, Nancy Kula & Kuniya Nasukawa (eds.), Continuum Companion to Phonology. London: Continuum, 174-201.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2009. Creole consonant inventories: how simple? In Nicholas Faraclas & Thomas Klein (eds.), Simplicity and Complexity in Creole and Pidgin Languages. London: Battlebridge. 81-106.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2008. Vowel epenthesis and creole syllable structure. In Susanne Michaelis (ed.), Creoles Between Substrates and Superstrates (Creole Language Library vol. 35). Amsterdam: Benjamins. 123-152.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2008. Restricting GEN. In Sylvia Blaho, Patrik Bye & Martin Krämer (eds.), Freedom of Analysis? (Studies in Generative Grammar 95). Berlin: de Gruyter. 281-312.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2007. Shifting standards: the fall of RP and its implications for teaching pronunciation. In Janusz Arabski (ed.), On Foreign Language Acquisition and Effective Learning. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. 250-268.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2007. Intrusive /r/ and optimal epenthetic consonants. Language Sciences 29. 451-476. (special issue on English phonology, ed. by Philip Carr & Patrick Honeybone).
- Uffmann, Christian. 2006. Epenthetic vowel quality in loanwords: empirical and formal issues. Lingua 116. 1079-1111.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2005. Optimal geometries. In Marc van Oostendorp & Jeroen van de Weijer (eds.), The Internal Structure of Phonological Segments (Studies in Generative Grammar 77). Berlin: de Gruyter. 27-62.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2003. Markedness, faithfulness, and creolization: the retention of the unmarked. In Ingo Plag (ed.), The Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languages (Linguistische Arbeiten 478). Tübingen: Niemeyer. 3-23.
- Uffmann, Christian. 2001. Patterns of vowel epenthesis (not only) in Shona loanwords. In Caroline Féry, Anthony Dubach Green & Ruben van de Vijver (eds.), Proceedings of HILP 5. Universität Potsdam. 193-211.
- Plag, Ingo & Christian Uffmann. 2000. Phonological restructuring in creole: the development of paragoge in Sranan. In Ingrid Neumann-Holzschuh & Edgar W. Schneider (eds.), Degrees of Restructuring in Creole Languages (Creole Language Library vol. 22). Amsterdam: Benjamins. 309-336.
Reviews
- Uffmann, Christian. 2006. [Review of J. van de Weijer, V. van Heuven & H. van der Hulst (eds.), The Phonological Spectrum. Amsterdam: Benjamins (2 vols)]. Journal of Linguistics 41, 229-236
Non-Linguistic
- Keller, Wolfram R. & Christian Uffmann. 2008. Careful … Canadians: Guy Maddin’s structural allegory of Canadian identity. In Wolfram R. Keller & Gene Walz (eds.), Screening Canadians: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Canadian Film (Marburger Kanada-Studien 4). Marburg: Universitätsbibliothek. 163-182.