Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (born 1943) is an American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and distinguished professor (emeritus) from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. Couper-Kuhlen is regarded as an important figure in the development of

interactional linguistics Interactional linguistics (IL) is an interdisciplinary approach to grammar and interaction in the field of linguistics, that applies the methods of Conversation Analysis to the study of linguistic structures, including syntax, phonetics, morphol ...

and the study of prosody in

conversation Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

, through a number of books co-edited with

Margret Selting Margret may refer to - *1410 Margret, an asteroid *Árný Margrét (born 2001), Icelandic musician *, a Norwegian steamship in service 1994-06/18 * Margret Benedictsson (1866–1956), Icelandic-Canadian suffrage activist and journalist *Margret Borg ...

: the 1996 book ''Prosody in Conversation'', the 2001 book ''Studies in Interactional Linguistics'' also co-edited with Selting, and the textbook ''Interactional Linguistics''. Her book ''Building Responsive Action'' written together with Barbara Fox and Sandra Thompson received the best book award from the International Society for Conversation Analysis in 2018. Couper-Kuhlen is member of the editorial board of ''Research on Language and Social Interaction'' and has received a

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the University of Helsinki. For her 65th birthday, a conference and following book publication was dedicated to her.

Biography

Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen received a doctoral degree in 1977 on the basis of her thesis ''The Prepositional Passive in English'', published in 1979, and had been and was then a lecturer in different places in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1991, she did her

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

with the thesis ''English Speech Rhythm'', published in 1993, and became professor of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

linguistics at the

University of Konstanz The University of Konstanz () is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's southernmost university and is ...

in 1995. In 2003, she moved to the

University of Potsdam The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. The university is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace o ...

for another professorship, until she became Finland Distinguished Professor at the

in 2009 and director for the Center of Excellence for Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction in 2013. She is now retired.

Selected publications

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth Living people 1943 births Linguists of English American phoneticians American women linguists Academic staff of the University of Helsinki