Dr. Anke Lensch
Recent Classes
Summer 2025
- Introduction to Linguistics (practice/Übung)
- World Englishes (seminar)
Winter 2024/25
- World English(es) in the EFL Classroom (seminar)
- Language Structures and Functions (exercise/Übung)
- Introduction to Language and Communication Studies (lecture)
- Language Structures and Functions (lecture)
Summer 2024
- Sociolinguistic variables in the EFL Classroom (seminar)
- Postcolonial English(es) in the EFL Classroom (seminar)
- Morphological Creativity on the Web (seminar)
Research Interests
- Varieties of English
- Multilingual pragmatics
- Sociolinguistics
- Language variation and change
- Cognitive linguistics
- Morpho-Syntax
- Historical linguistics
Ph.D. Thesis
“Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and dumb-downers. A corpus-based study of English -er nominalizations.”
English Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (Germany)
supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Britta Mondorf, English Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Graeme Trousdale, University of Edinburgh (UK)
Selected Publications
(under contract) working title: “Atypical English suffixation. A diachronic construction morphology approach to English derivation.” Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Series: Studies in English Language.
(to appear) “Happy birthday, machchal! Address terms in English interactions of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.” In: Svenja Kranich, Daniela Pirazzini, Simone Knewitz (eds.) The Language of (De-)Democratization. London, Routledge.
(2024) “English and German derivation revisited. A Diachronic Construction Morphology approach to the growing complexity of bases.” Constructions and Frames 15:2. 234-256.
(2022) “On loners, easy-peelers, diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers. Extravagance of -er nominalizations in English.” In: Eitelmann, Matthias & Haumann, Dagmar (Hrsg.) Extravagant Morphology. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing. 73-100.
(2020) “Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and dumber-downerers. A corpus-based study of English -er nominalizations.“ Promotionsschrift vorgelegt an der Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. Mainz, University Library. 247 p.
(2019) “Fremde Klasse, fremdes Fach.“ In: Lernende Schule. Für die Praxis pädagogischer Schulentwicklung 85: 25-28.
(2018) “Fixer-uppers. Reduplication in the Derivation of Phrasal Verbs.” In: Finkbeiner, Rita & Ulrike Freywald (Hrsg.) Exact Repetition in Grammar and Discourse. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs). Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter. 158-181.
Recent Conference Papers
(2025) “Thank you Suren. I'm very grateful for the offer and for everything you did for me.” Expressions of gratitude in the English-speaking Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community. ISLE 8, 01. - 04. September 2025, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
(2025) “Mikka nandri, mahan,' she said. ‘Thank you deeply, son.” Expressing gratitude in the English-speaking Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community. New Ways of Analysing Variation (NWAV) 8 - Asia Pacific, 04. - 07. August 2025, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
(2025) “You don't thank your family.” Intergenerational differences in the expression of gratitude on the (English-speaking) Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. Geographical Contrast in Variational Pragmatics Conference, 30. July - 01. August 2025, University Bielefeld, Germany.
(2025) “Thanking your Family Is not Necessary.” Variation in the Expression of gratitude in the English-speaking Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community. International Association of World Englishes Conference (IAWE), 25. - 27, July 2025, Justus-Liebig-University, Gießen, Germany.
(2025) “Thanking your family is not necessary.” The perceived absence of expressions of gratitude in the English-speaking Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community. Bonn Applied Linguistics Conference, 11. - 12. July 2025, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
(2025) “’Just wait, thangachchi.’ Address terms in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community.” DGFS Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, 05. - 07. March 2025, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany.
(2025) “Fictive kinship and belonging. Nominal address in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.” International Conference “Multilingual Politeness”, 06 - 07. Februar 2025, Freie University Berlin, Germany.
(2024) “On aunties and uncles. Kinship terms in a diasporic community.” Paper presented at the 10th Biennial International Conference on the Linguistics of Contemporary English (BICLCE), 26. - 28. September 2024, Alicante, Spain.
(2022) with Jelke Bloem, University of Amsterdam. “On incoming passers-by and bystanding lookers-on. A quantitative approach to variable particle placement in English particle verbs.” 9. Grammar and Corpora Konferenz, 30. June - 02. July 2022 Ghent, Belgium.
(2021) “Looking-intoing showy-offy stayer-onner-for-nowers. A corpus-based study into English morpho-syntax.” (online) International Conference for Corpus-based Approaches to English (ICAME) 41, 18. - 21. August 2021, Dortmund, Germany.
(2021) “Isn’t this way (too) early? How way acquired intensifying function.” (online) International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL) 21, 07 - 11. June 2021, Leiden, Netherlands.
Recent Workshop Contributions
(2025) “’You don’t thank your family.’” Intergenerational differences in the expression of gratitude in the English-speaking Sri LankanTamil diaspora. Geographical Contrast in Variational Pragmatics, 30.07. – 01.08.2025, Bielefeld, Germany.
(2024) “Terms of endearment as in-group markers. Zooming in on variation in the English-speaking Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community.” Paper presented as part of the Research Day at Bonn University, 15th of March, Bonn, Germany.
(2022) “English and German derivation revisited. A Diachronic Construction Morphology approach to the growing complexity of bases.” (online) Workshop Diachronic Construction Morphology (organized by Muriel Norde (FU Berlin) and Graeme Trousdale (University of Edinburgh), 4.11.2022.
(2022) “About mistresses, hussies, hostesses and spinsters. Semantic change as a reflection of prevailing societal preconceptions.” Presentation at the interdisciplinary Workshop - Umbrüche STAND – BERUF(UNG) – GESCHLECHT – KÖRPERLICHKEIT TRANSFORMATIONSPROZESSE IN EUROPA (CA. 1450-1830), Koblenz 25.02.2022.
Additional Information
Previous Teaching (complete)
Graduate seminars:
World English(es) in the EFL Classroom (WiSe 24/25)
Sociolinguistic Variables in the EFL Classroom (SoSe 24)
Postcolonial English(es) in the EFL Classroom (SoSe 24)
Postcolonial Perspectives on Varieties of English (WiSe 23/24)
Dictionaries (SoSe 2022)
British American Differences in the English Classroom (WiSe 2021/22)
Undergraduate:
World English(es) (SoSe 2025)
Morphological Creativity on the Web (SoSe 2024)
Corpus-linguistic Approaches to Language Variation and Change (SoSe 2022)
Varieties of English (SoSe 2022, WiSe 2021/22, SoSe 2021, WiSe 2020/21; WiSe 2016/2017)
Morphology (SoSe 2021, SoSe 2014)
Construction Grammar (WiSe 2018/2019)
Word-Formation (SoSe 2018)
Social and Regional Variation in English (SoSe 2017)
Phraseology (SoSe 2016)
Historical seminars:
A History of the English Language (WiSe 2020/21, SoSe 2020)
Late Modern English (SoSe 2020)
Middle English (WiSe 2019/2020)
Early Modern English (WiSe 2017/18)
Old English (WiSe 2014/15)
Language practice:
Übung zu Language Structures and Functions (WiSe 23/24; WiSe 24/25)
Language Course 1 (SoSe 2022, WiSe 2021/22, SoSe 2021, WiSe 2020/21)
Written English, Essay writing: Language Policies (SoSe 2019)
Phonetik/Spoken English (WiSe 2014/15; SoSe 2016)
Lectures:
Introduction to Language and Communication Studies (WiSe 23/24, WiSe 24/25)
Language Structures & Functions (WiSe 24/25)
Introduction to English Linguistics (SoSe 2021, WiSe 2015/2016, SoSe 2015)
Übung:
Introduction to English Linguistics (WiSe 2013/2014; SoSe 2025)
Academic Career
| Period | Position |
|---|---|
| since 04/2025 | Research Assistant, Chair for English in Context, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Axel Bohmann, University Cologne (Germany) |
| 10/2023 - 04/2025 | Lecturer, IAAK, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn (Germany) |
| 07/2022 - 09/2023 | Parental leave |
| 10/2020 - 10/2023 | Research Assistant, Institute for English and American Studies, University of Koblenz (Germany) |
| 04/2021 - 09/2022 | Teaching Assignments, IAAK Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-University Bonn (Germany) |
| 04/2020 - 03/2021 | Teaching Assignments, English Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz (Germany) |
| 04/2014 - 03/2020 | Research Assistant, English Linguistics, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Britta Mondorf, Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz (Germany) |
| 08/2018 - 12/2018 | Research stay at the University of Edinburgh (UK) |
| 09/2016 - 10/2018 | Coordination of the Teaching English in Sri Lanka Project (JGU) (Germany) |
| 04/2014 - 03/2020 | Member of the scientific committee of the PHILIS project (JGU) (Germany) |
| 10/2013 - 03/2014 | Teaching Assignments, Institut für England und Amerikastudien, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt (Germany) |
| 08/2013 - 02/2014 | Student Assistant, tutor for academic writing for the PHILIS Project (JGU) (Germany) |
| 06/2011 - 09/2013 | Student Assistant, English Linguistics for Univ.-Prof. Dr. Britta Mondorf (JGU) (Germany) |
| 09/2009 - 06/2010 | Foreign Language Assistant at Neale-Wade Community College, March Cambridgeshire (UK) |
University Education
| Year | Degree |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Ph.D. in English Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany) supervisors: |
| 2013 | 1. State Board Exam in English and German for secondary school service (Lehramt), Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany) supervisors: |
Committee Memberships
| Period | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| since 2021 | Member of AG 6 – Internationalisation of the University of Koblenz (Germany) |
| 2015 - 2020 | Member of the scientific committee PHILIS Projekt at the Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU), Mainz (Germany) Activity:
|
Previous B.A. & M.A. Supervision
Chen, Z. (2025) “A Corpus-based Approach to the Productivity of -ate, -en, -ify and -ize/-ise” unpublished Bachelor Thesis, University of Bonn.
Sherwood, K. (2024) “Generative Artificial Intelligence and Syntactic Ambiguity Interpretation of Relative Clause Attachment – Ambiguity Resolution and Language Bias of Generative Artificial Intelligences.” Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Bonn.
Mock, M. (2024) “Reading Between the Lines -The Impact of Emotional Priming on Information Retention and Creative Storytelling Investigating the Role of Comprehensible Input, Anxiety, and Social Interaction in Adult Second Language Acquisition of German.” Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Bonn.
Yildirim, K. (2023) “Investigating the Role of Comprehensible Input, Anxiety, and Social Interaction in Adult Second Language Acquisition of German.” Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Bonn.
Simon, N. (2022) “Is Intensifier sweet as more Common in Australian English or in New Zealand English? A corpus-based study.” Unpublished Bachelor Thesis, University Koblenz-Landau.
Löhr, R. (2017) “Gender Differences in the Use of Causal Clauses - By the Example of Politicians from the House of Commons.” Unpublished Master Thesis, JGU Mainz.
Seibert, M. (2017) “Constructional Change of ADJ-ness and ADJ-ity in American English.” Unpublished Bachelor Thesis, JGU Mainz.
Kirsch, A. (2016) “Ablaut in Present-day English.” Unpublished Bachelor Thesis, JGU Mainz.
Kohn, A. (2016) “The Subjunctive in the Inner Circle Varieties. A Corpus-Based Analysis.” Unpublished Bachelor Thesis, JGU Mainz.
Paul, J. (2016) “The Epistemic Modality Principle: Women’s and Men’s Use of Boosters.” Unpublished Master Thesis, JGU Mainz.
Contact
Englisches Seminar I
Universität zu Köln
Albertus Magnus Platz 1
50923 Köln
Office: Philosophikum R 1.206
E-Mail: alensch@uni-koeln.de
CURRENTLY ON PARENTAL LEAVE UNTIL SEPT 2026
[Office Hours: Tuesday 10.15am - 11.15am]
[Please register for office hour appointments via the university's scheduler.]