Monika S. Schmid FAcSS FBA (born 1967) is a German linguist who specialises in language attrition. She is a professor and Head of the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York.
Monika S. Schmid | |
|---|---|
 Schmid in 2005 | |
| Occupation | Linguist |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociolinguistics |
| Sub-discipline | Language attrition |
| Institutions | |
Career
editMonika Schmid began studying at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) in 1990, where she was president of their student parliament.[1] While interviewing survivors of the Holocaust in Germany, she learned about the importance of the transmission of native language from parent to child.[2] In 2000, she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in English Linguistics from HHU, with her thesis based on these interviews.
She began working as a Lecturer in English Language at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.[2][3] She worked as a lecturer at HHU from 1996 to 2001.[1] In 2007, she moved to the University of Groningen English Department, where she was Senior Lecturer in English Language until her promotion to Professor in 2010.[4] At the University of Essex, she became Professor of Linguistics in 2013 and Head of the Department in 2018, both positions she held until 2021.[3] She later moved to the University of York, where she became a professor,[4] and in January 2022, she became the Head of the Department of Language and Linguistic Science.[3]
Research
editSchmid specialises in "bilingual development and, in particular, on change, deterioration and stability in the native language of migrants who become dominant in the language of the environment", that it is to say (first) language attrition.[3]
In 2002, she published First Language Attrition, Use and Maintenance, a book based on her thesis.[3] In the book, she concludes that the main cause of German-language attrition within German Jewish Holocaust survivors is Holocaust trauma.[5]
She has created and maintained a webpage about Language Attrition. The webpage contains not just theoretical and practical information about the topic, but also information about calls, grants. It is the starting point of the Language Attrition Network (LAN), a Network that promotes collaboration among attrition researchers. One of the main activities is the LAN Reading Group.
In 2012, she published Language Attrition,[6] and after it she has published dozens of papers,[7] participated, and edited several volumes about linguistics research in general (i.e. Designing Research on Bilingual Development[8]), and Language Attrition in particular. Worthy of mention is The Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition[9] reviewed[10] by The Linguist List.
She has organized, chaired and facilitated several conferences, meetings, and seminars bringing together researchers in the field of Language Attrition. She regularly advises early career researchers, as part of the Language Attrition Seminar Series between 2014 and 2018, and the IV International Conference on Language Attrition and Bilingualism in 2022.
In the media
editSchmid has contributed to BBC News, the Berliner Zeitung, The Conversation, The Guardian, Svenska Dagbladet, and de Volkskrant, either as an author or as a quoted expert.[4] She has collaborated in different podcasts, radio programs, and many more formats.
Honors
editSchmid was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021.[11] She was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2022.[12]
References
edit- ^ a b Schmid, Monika S. "Monika S. Schmid". LinkedIn. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ a b Schmid, Monika S. (10 December 2015). "First language attrition among German-Jewish refugees". Language Attrition. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "New Head of Department". University of York. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ a b c "Monika S. Schmid". York University. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ Hardach, Sophie (6 June 2018). "Can you lose your native language?". BBC Future. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ Schmid, Monika S. (2011). Language Attrition. Key Topics in Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76040-9.
- ^ "Monika S. Schmid". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Schmid, Monika S.; Berends, Sanne M.; Bergmann, Christopher; Brouwer, Susanne M.; Meulman, Nienke; Seton, Bregtje J.; Sprenger, Simone A.; Stowe, Laurie A. (2016). "Designing Research on Bilingual Development". SpringerBriefs in Linguistics. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11529-0. ISBN 978-3-319-11528-3. ISSN 2197-0009.
- ^ Schmid, Monika S.; Köpke, Barbara; Cherciov, Mirela, eds. (2019). The Oxford handbook of language attrition. Oxford handbooks in linguistics (1st ed.). Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879359-5. OCLC 1053611185.
- ^ "LINGUIST List 31.3689: Review: Morphology; Phonetics; Phonology; Psycholinguistics: Schmid, Kopke (2019)". The LINGUIST List. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ "Autumn 2021 Fellows for conferment by institution" (PDF). Academy of Social Sciences. 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ "Professor Monika Schmid FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 16 January 2024.