You can download my CV here (last updated 09/2026):
Broad: Semantics · Pragmatics · Semantics-Pragmatics Interface
Narrow: Adjectives · Adjective-Noun-Constructions · Context-Dependence · Linguistic vs. World Knowledge
My research is situated within formal semantics, with a particular interest in the semantics–pragmatics interface.
I am interested in the relationship and the boundary between linguistic knowledge and world knowledge. To investigate this, my current research focuses on the semantics of individual denoting nouns, in particular the relation of nouns and characteristic activities, and on the question of which individual denoting nouns have event arguments. I currently conduct a series of experiments on this topic together with Carla Spellerberg (UMass), where we take a meaning-based perspective and follow the hypothesis that not only deverbal nouns (e.g. dancer), but also certain non-deverbal nouns (e.g. ballerina) have an event argument. We use underdetermined adjectives such as skillful as a tool and a "window" into the noun meaning.
My PhD dissertation investigated adjectival modification, with a particular focus on compositionality and context dependence. I argued in favour of a predicate analysis of adnominal adjectives. Please see the thesis section of this website to learn more about my PhD thesis.
My research within the CRC NegLaB at Goethe University Frankfurt focused on adjectival negation. In the project's first working package, I focused on the semantics of German adjectives that obligatorily occur with the prefix un-, such as unaufhörlich 'incessant', for which no corresponding positive form (*aufhörlich) exists. I investigated the role of the (mostly) verbal roots of these adjectives, the interaction of negation and the modal contribution of the suffix -lich, and the historical development of these adjectives. This research involved extensive work with historical and present-day corpora of German. In the second working package, I focused on (German) negative polar adjectives that are negated by the prefix -un, such as untraurig (lit. 'unsad'). This research involved all stages of experimental work, including experimental design, implementation, and data analysis.
During my bachelor's studies, I also studied forensic linguistics (e.g. the (in)comprehensibility of legal language and authorship identification). I still find this an incredibly interesting topic!
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory
GLOW
Sinn & Bedeutung
Nothing But Negation
Member of the Organizing and Scientific Committee of Sinn&Bedeutung 30 (held at Goethe University Frankfurt in September 2025)
Member of the Organizing and Scientific Committee of the Special Session Philosophical and Linguistic Approaches to Negation (PhilLingNeg) as part of Sinn&Bedeutung 30 (held at Goethe University Frankfurt in September 2025)
“Approaches to NPIs and their licensing conditions – Anything new?” (Workshop co-organized with Farbod Khouzani as part of the Annual Conference of the German Society for Linguistics (DGfS) held at Trier University in February 2026)
Hagedorn, Ramona. "Reference to kinds by German definite noun phrases. An empirical approach." MA Thesis, Goethe University Frankfurt, 2025. (as second reviewer)
Member of the Steering Committee of CRC NegLaB (until 08/2026)
Leading the Reading Group on R & Statistics at CRC NegLaB (01/2025 - 08/2026)
Leading the AI Working Group at CRC NegLaB (11/2025 - 08/2026)
Coordinator for the distribution of student advising requests within the Department of Linguistics at Goethe University (11/2024 – 10/2025)
Make sure to check out the Semantics Advent Calendar 2023! 🗓️🎄