Linguistic research at the University of Cologne
Welcome to CRC 1252 "Prominence in Language"
In this Collaborative Research Centre (CRC 1252) more than sixty researchers are working together in an interdisciplinary team with the goal of providing a comprehensive characterization of prominence in language.
We investigate how prominence structures language with respect to prosody (Area A), morphosyntax and semantics (Area B) as well as text and discourse structure (Area C) in a large variety of languages from more than a dozen major language families and linguistic areas world wide. Our research on prominence contributes to a better understanding of language as a system between communication and cognition.
News
Elisabeth Clages' report on her language study trip to Tanzania
A short article by Elli Clages (B02) about her research trip to Tanzania was published in the a.r.t.e.s. Yearbook 2025/26. You can access it on pages 28-29 on the link below.
"The Documentarist Turn"
The commemorative publication "The Documentarist Turn", co-edited by Sonja Riesberg (B05), Uta Reinöhl and Birgit Hellwig (B02) is now available. The 900 pages long volume includes several contributions from CRC 1252 members and is a tribute to Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Himmelmann for his role and work in linguistics.
Framework for multimodal data collection in linguistics
An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Cologne, including Anastasia Bauer (IfL) and Petra B. Schumacher (IdSL 1), and several European universities has developed a flexible framework for research on multimodal language and communication. The workflow integrates nonverbal cues such as gestures, facial expressions, and gaze to support more transparent and reproducible research processes across different experimental settings. For more information, please click here.
RED 2026: Rules and Exceptions in Anaphoric Processing
The 26th International Conference on Language and Communication (RED 26) will take place on Thursday and Friday, May 21–22, 2026, at the Transilvania University of Brașov in Romania. Among the organizers is Prof. Dr. Klaus von Heusinger, project leader of CRC project C04. The conference brings together researchers investigating the complexities of anaphoric reference across languages, modalities, and theoretical frameworks.
The CRC has a new project: A08!
We are very excited to share the news that Simon Roessig's supplementary proposal for a project within the CRC has been approved by the DFG. The new project A08 investigates “The Role of Pauses in Prominence Marking” and brings together multiple perspectives by exploring both speech production on the basis of corpora and TED talks and perception studies. It further includes a cross-linguistic component by comparing German (as a head-prominent language) and French (edge-prominent).
Wilhelm von Humboldt Prize for Young Scientists
Christopher Saure has been awarded the Wilhelm von Humboldt Prize for his doctoral dissertation, which he completed as part of the former C05 project of the CRC 1252. This work stands out for its outstanding combination of theoretical analysis, empirical experimental evidence, and well-founded, detailed reasoning. It is expected to become an indispensable reference for future research on perspective-taking.
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Event calender
09Jul
a.r.t.e.s. forum 2026
10.00 - 22.00 | Neuer Senatssaal, Main Building
10Jul
a.r.t.e.s forum 2026 Day 2
10.00 - 18.30
14Jul
a.r.t.e.s. Class 8
10.00 - 11.30 | Spitzboden, HoP, Luxemburger Str. 299
15Jul
RDM: Licensing of Published Datasets and Scripts
14.00 - 15.30 | Spitzboden, HoP, Luxemburger Str. 299