LANGUAGE AND THE HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT

The research unit 'Language and the History of Settlement' investigates the diachrony and synchrony of the linguistic landscape and the languages of Southeast Europe and beyond. Research foci are the toponymy of Southeast Europe and its implications for the historical settlement and migration processes, the linguistic relationship and contact among the Balkan languages in the framework of the Southeast European convergence area, history of the individual languages, as well as philology, especially of the older stages of the respective Balkan languages.

One of the research foci lies on the prehistoric Eurasian migrations and their impact on the linguistic and cultural development in the Balkan region. The investigation is a transdisciplinary cooperation involving historical linguistics, archaeology, and archaeogenetics.

Another focal research area is located at the intersection of language, cognition, and culture. Our interests pertain to cognitive anthropological issues, semantic typology, the balance between semantic universals and cultural diversity, semantic diffusion, and cultural and linguistic contact.