† Prof. em. Dr. Karen H. Ebert
† Prof. em. Dr. Karen H. Ebert (1945-2016) studied General Linguistics and Germanic languages at the Universities of Kiel and Copenhagen.
She obtained her PhD in 1970 from Kiel University.
Academic positions
- researcher in a project Computational Linguistics, Bonn University, 1971-72
- researcher in a DFG-project on Chadic languages, 1972-74
- professor of English Linguistics, University of Marburg, 1974-89
- professor of General Linguistics, University of Zürich, 1989 until January 2010 (professor emeritus)
Visiting professor
- University of Athens, Dept. of German, 1980-1982
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Dept. of German, fall 1992
Fieldwork
- on Kera, Chad; 10/1972-4/1973, 7/1973
- on Camling, Nepal; shorter periods in 1985, 1986, 1989
- on Athpare, Nepal; March-April 1991
Language expertise
- Frisian, esp. Fering (native speaker)
- Kiranti languages, especially Camling, Athpare
Other research interests
- aspect and aktionsart
- inverse systems
- contact phenomena in South Asia
Publications
Monographs
| 1971 | Referenz, Sprechsituation und die bestimmten Artikel in einem nordfriesischen Dialekt. Bredstedt: Nordfriisk Instituut. (=Studien und Materialien Nr. 4). |
| 1975 | Sprache und Tradition der Kera (Tschad), Teil I: Texte. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde (MSAA), Serie A, Bd. 6. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. |
| 1976 | Sprache und Tradition der Kera (Tschad), Teil II: Lexikon/Lexique. MSAA, Serie A, Bd. 8. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. |
| 1979 | Sprache und Tradition der Kera (Tschad), Teil III: Grammatik. MSAA, Serie A, Bd.15. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. |
| 1994 | The Structure of Kiranti Languages - Comparative Grammar and Texts. Zürich: ASAS. |
| 1996 | Koɖava. München: Lincom. (= Languages of the World Materials 104). |
| 1997a | A Grammar of Athpare. München: Lincom. (= Studies in Asian Linguistics 1) |
| 1997b | Camling. München: Lincom. (= Languages of the World Materials 103) |
| 2000 | Camling Texts and Glossary. München: Lincom. |
| 2009 | with Martin Gänszle. Rai Mythology: Kiranti Oral Texts. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press. |
Editions
| 1993 | Studies in Clause Linkage. Zürich: ASAS. |
| 2001 | with Fernando Zúñiga: Aktionsart and Aspectotemporality in Non--European Languages. Zürich: ASAS. |
| 2008 | with Johanna Mattissen & Rafael Suter: From Siberia to Ethiopia. Converbs in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Zürich: ASAS. |
Articles
| 1999a | The UP-DOWN dimension in Rai grammar and mythology. In: Balthasar Bickel & Martin Gaenszle (eds.) Himalayan space: cultural horizons and practices. Zürich: Völkerkunde Museum. 107-134. |
| 1999b | Nonfinite verbs in Kiranti languages. In: Yogendra P. Yadava & Warren W. Glover (eds.) Topics in Nepalese Linguistics. Kathmandu: Royal Nepalese Academy. 371-400. |
| 1999c | Focality degrees in Kalmyk imperfectives. In: Werner Abraham & Leonid Kulikov (eds.) Tense-Aspect , Transitivity and Causativity. Essays in honour of Vladimir Nedjalkov. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 323- 339. |
| 2000a | Progressive markers in Germanic languages. In: Östen Dahl (ed.) Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe. Berlin etc.: Mouton. 603-651. |
| 2000b | Aspect in Maltese. In: Östen Dahl (ed.) Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe. Berlin etc.: Mouton. 701-733. |
| 2000c | with Bertinetto, Piermarco & Casper de Groot: The progressive in Europe. In: Östen Dahl (ed.) Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe. Berlin etc.: Mouton. 535- 554. |
| 2000d | Attributive clauses in Kiranti languages. ASAS WP No. 8. |
| 2000f | with Lukas Neukom: Towards an areal typology of relative clauses in South Asian languages. ASAS WP No. 9. |
| 2001a | Tense-aspect flip-flop and a somewhat elusive gram type. In: Ebert & Zúñiga (eds) Aspectotemporality in Non-European Languages. Zürich: ASAS. 141-158. |
| 2001b | Südasien als Sprachbund. Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunkationswissenschaft. Bd. 11.2: Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: de Gruyter. 1529-1539. |
| 2003a | Kiranti languages: An Overview. In: Graham Thurgood & Randy LaPolla (eds.) The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Surrey: Curzon Press. 505-517. |
| 2003b | Camling. In: Graham Thurgood & Randy LaPolla (eds.) The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Surrey: Curzon Press. 533- 545. |
| 2003c | Equivalents of 'conjunctive participles' in Kiranti languages. In: Tej R. Kansakar & Mark Turin (eds.) Themes in Himalayan Languages and Linguistics. Heidelberg & Kathmandu. 27-47. |
| 2003d | "Come" and "go" as discourse connectors in Kera and other Chadic languages. In: Erin Shay & Uwe Seibert (eds) Motion, Direction and Location in Languages. In honor of Zygmunt Frajzyngier. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 111-122. |
| 2008a | Functions and forms of converbs. In: Ebert, Mattissen & Suter (eds.) From Siberia to Ethiopia. Converbs in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Zürich: ASAS. 7-33. |
| 2008b | Converbs in Kiranti languages. In: Ebert, Mattissen & Suter (eds.) From Siberia to Ethiopia. Converbs in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Zürich: ASAS. 63-89. |