Dr. Gianina Iordăchioaia (Alumna)

… I obtained my PhD in General Linguistics from the University of Tübingen in 2009. In 2022 I received my habilitation degree in English and General Linguistics from the Humboldt University of Berlin. For the most part of my postdoctoral years, I worked as a researcher at the University of Stuttgart and had several research visits abroad, e.g. at the University of British Columbia, the University of Verona, and Yale University.
My PNB project investigates how natural language may combine properties of mutually exclusive linguistic categories (such as verbs, adjectives, and nouns) to yield new and subtler forms of expression. By comparatively examining languages like English, German, Romanian, and others, I aim to understand the critical processes that determine which functional material each language will employ to accommodate such mixed categories. Finding an answer to this question will take us one step closer to defining a universal core of abstract grammatical principles that underlie human language competence and performance.
I have been and will continue pursuing an academic career that combines teaching and advising with breakthrough research.