Ursula Reutner (born 6 October 1975 in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital o ...

) is a German

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

. She holds the Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures at the

University of Passau The University of Passau (''Universität Passau'' in German) is a public research university located in Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1973, it is the youngest university in Bavaria and consequently has the most modern campus in the s ...

. Reutner is an internationally renowned expert in Romance Studies and Intercultural Communication, who has won several awards for her work, including the Prix Germaine de Staël, the Elise Richter Prize and an honorary doctorate from the

Universidad del Salvador The Universidad del Salvador (USAL) is a Jesuit university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its campus in downtown Buenos Aires, it has instructional and research facilities in Pilar, San Miguel, Bahía Blanca, and in the provinces of ...

(Buenos Aires).

Career

Ursula Reutner studied European Business Studies, Philosophy and Art History as well as English, Italian and Spanish Linguistics and Literature at the

University of Bamberg The University of Bamberg (german: Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg) in Bamberg, Germany, specializes in the humanities, cultural studies, social sciences, economics, and applied computer science. Campus The university is mainly housed in ...

and Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV). Having obtained her doctorate in Romance Linguistics/French with research on Language and Identity at the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...

in 2004, she embarked on postdoctoral research on Language and Taboo for her postgraduate habilitation degree, which she completed in 2007, thus gaining the formal right to teach and conduct research at professorial level (venia legendi). She was a visiting professor at universities in France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil and, in academic year 2007–2008, interim chairholder of the Chair of Romance Linguistics at the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

. In 2009, she joined the

, where she was appointed Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures. During her time in Passau, she was offered professorial appointments at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

(in 2011) and the

University of Paderborn Paderborn University (german: Universität Paderborn) is one of the fourteen public research universities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the wint ...

(in 2014), which she both declined. Ursula Reutner is a member of numerous Romance Studies associations and sits on the Academic Advisory Board of the journal Romanistik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. She is the Director of the Language Center at the

and the Director of the Institute of Intercultural Communication, that organizes and conducts intercultural training programs for students, business people and politicians. From 2014 until 2018, she was the Vice President for International Relations of her University; as such she has increased and modernized the international orientation of this Institution, received internationally renowned guests from all over the world and concluded numerous new contracts with outstanding partner universities worldwide.

Research

Ursula Reutner is a specialist in studies on multicultural societies that she analyses with regard to their socio-linguistic situation, their linguistic and cultural history as well as the Language Planning and Policies they are affected by. Her examination of different French-speaking countries using a homogeneous set of criteria allows her to establish a typology of French-speaking countries. She is also highly recognized for her research in the field of language and power, including political correctness and linguistic taboos, and her works in the framework of

Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects communication. It describes the wide range of communication processes and problems that naturally appear ...

, cultural contact and the cultural analysis of the Internet. Other research interests are

Diglossia In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...

and Social Multilingualism, Scientific Language, Linguistic Norms and Judgements, Speaker Attitudes,

Lexicology Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language. A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller eleme ...

and

Lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

and Philosophy of Language.

Honors and awards

* Paul Harris Fellow of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

(2021) * Honorary doctorate from the

in Buenos Aires (2018) * Prix Germaine de Staël of the German Association for French Studies (2006) * Elise-Richter-Preis of the German Association for Romance Studies (2005)

Selected publications

* ''Manuel des francophonies''. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2017, . * ''Interkulturelle Kompetenz. Anleitung zum Fremdgehen – Ein Lernparcours''. Westermann, Braunschweig 2015, . * ''Lingüística mediática y traducción audiovisual''. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2015, . * ''Von der Zeitung zur Twitterdämmerung''. LIT, Münster 2014, . * ''Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis''. Reclam, Stuttgart 2013, . * ''Political Correctness''. Lang, Frankfurt 2012, . * ''Von der digitalen zur interkulturellen Revolution''. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2012, . * ''Geschichte der italienischen Sprache''. Narr, Tübingen 2011, .
''Sprache und Tabu, Interpretationen zu französischen und italienischen Euphemismen''
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie. Band 346. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, . * ''400 Jahre Quebec. Kulturkontakte zwischen Konfrontation und Kooperation''. Winter, Heidelberg 2009, . * ''Beiträge zur Kreolistik''. Buske, Hamburg 2007, .
''Sprache und Identität einer postkolonialen Gesellschaft im Zeitalter der Globalisierung''
Eine Studie zu den französischen Antillen Guadeloupe und Martinique. Buske, Hamburg 2005, .

References

Sources