13.ULEI

Prof.
Sabine Fiedler

Task 4.3

Lingua franca

Universität Leipzig, founded in 1409, is a research university, which offers education in a rich and diverse research environment for about 28,000 students taught by approximately 400 faculty members. The large variety of 14 faculties (covering disciplines from medicine to natural sciences, from mathematics to theology and from social sciences to sports) offers excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary work. In the years since the political changes in 1989 significant amounts of money have been invested in the research infrastructure, so that Universität Leipzig is a top institution both in buildings and equipment today. Universität Leipzig is involved in more than 50 FP7 projects; its Faculty of Philology is the largest in the university.

Faculty of Philology

Task in the project

Universität Leipzig is responsible for task 4.3 on “Lingua franca”, which is a major research topic of the person in charge. MIME approaches the use of a lingua franca as a communicative strategy in conjunction with others, which implies a particular tight co-operation with tasks in work package 3 as well within work package 4. Cooperation with teams in work packages 2, 5 and 6 will also be pursued, owing to the sociological, political, and economic implications of the topic.

Staff

Prof. Sabine Fiedler
Dr. Cyril Brosch
Dr. Jan Kruse

Experience

The task leader is a recognised expert on lingua franca communication, a theme on which she has published widely and contributed original scientific perspectives. Her work on lingua franca communication concentrates on English as a lingua franca and the use of planned languages in this function; she currently steers a comparative project, in cooperation with scholars from various European countries, on "The influence of English on the phraseology of European languages". Her research interests also include translation studies and language policy.