† Prof. em. Dr. Karen H. Ebert

Karen 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.