Professor Sebastian Hoffmann

Sebastian Hoffmann received his doctoral degree from the University of Zurich, where he also worked for several years - first as a research assistant to Prof. Gunnel Tottie and then as a 'Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter'. Before moving to Trier, he spent three years at Lancaster University (UK) as Lecturer in English Linguistics (2006 - 2009). He was also a visiting professor at the University of Tampere, Finland (2014 - 2017). 

He was Chair of the Board of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME) from 2017 to 2023 and Vice-President for the Profession of the International Society for the Linguistics of English from 2018 to 2023.

As a dedicated corpus linguist, his research predominantly focuses on the application of usage-based approaches to the study of language. Recent research topics include:

  • syntactic change (e.g. the grammaticalization of complex prepositions)
  • the development of World Englishes
  • corpus-based investigations of phonological phenomena (intrusive /r/, the Principle of Rhythmic Alternation, etc.)
  • the historical development and present-day use of tag questions
  • verb complementation (in particular ditransitive verbs) 
  • corpus linguistic methodology, in particular the methodological and practical issues involved in using Internet-derived data for corpus linguistic analyses 
  • aspects of fixedness (e.g. collocations)

Sebastian Hoffmann is a co-author of BNCweb, a user-friendly web-interface to the British National Corpus. BNCweb can be accessed for free via a server at Lancaster University. The URL for sign-up is http://bncweb.lancs.ac.uk/bncwebSignup/.

Administrative Duties 

Sebastian Hoffmann was Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Literatures and Media Studies from 2017 to 2023. 

Office hours

Typically Wednesday from 9-11am. Please sign up via Stud.IP. Alternative times can be arranged via email.

Selected Publications

Books:

  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Evert, Stefan, Smith, Nicholas, Lee David YW and Ylva Berglund Prytz. 2008. Corpus Linguistics with BNCweb - a Practical Guide. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. (Sample Chapter 1; see also http://corpora.lancs.ac.uk/BNCweb/)
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian. 2005. Grammaticalization and English Complex Prepositions. A Corpus-Based Study. London: Routledge.

Edited volumes:

  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Sand, Andrea, Arndt-Lappe, Sabine & Lisa Marie Dillmann. 2018. Corpora and Lexis. Leiden: Brill. 
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Andrea Sand & Sabine Arndt-Lappe. 2017. Exploring Recent Diachrony: Corpus Studies of Lexicogrammar and Language Practices in Late Modern English. Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English. Vol. 18. Helsinki: eVarieng. Available at http://www.helsinki.fi/varieng/journal/volumes/18/.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Fischer-Starcke, Bettina & Andrea Sand. 2013. Current Issues in Phraseology. Special issue of the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 18(1). (reprinted as: Hoffmann, Sebastian, Fischer-Starcke, Bettina & Andrea Sand. 2015. Current Issues in Phraseology. Amsterdam: Benjamins.)
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Rayson, Paul and Geoffrey Leech. 2012. English Corpus Linguistics: Looking back, Moving forward.Papers from the 30th International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 30). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Rayson, Paul, Hoffmann, Sebastian and Geoffrey Leech. 2011. Methodological and Historical Dimensions of Corpus Linguistics. Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English. Vol. 6. Helsinki: eVarieng. Available at http://www.helsinki.fi/varieng/journal/volumes/06/.

Journal articles and book chapters:

  • Brems, Lieselotte & Sebastian Hoffmann. 2017. “Approaches to Grammaticalization and Lexicalization.” In: Laurel Brinton (ed.) English Historical Linguistics: Approaches and Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 131–157.
  • Gabrielatos, Costas, Torgersen, Eivind Nessa, Hoffmann, Sebastian and Susan Fox. 2010. "A Corpus-Based Sociolinguistic Study of Indefinite Article Forms in London English." Journal of English Linguistics, 38(4): 297-334.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian. 2018. “I would like to Request for your Attention: On the Diachrony of Prepositional Verbs in Singapore English.” In: Kaunisto, Mark, Mikko Höglund and Paul Rickman (eds.) Changing Structures. Studies in Constructions and Complementation. [SLCS 195]. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 171–196.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian. 2011. “Interview with Terttu Nevalainen.” Journal of English Linguistics, 39(4): 359-370.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian. 2007. "Processing Internet-Derived Text - Creating a Corpus of Usenet Messages." Literary and Linguistic Computing 22:2. 151-65.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Blass, Anne-Katrin & Joybrato Mukherjee. 2014. “Canonical Tag Questions in Asian Englishes: Forms, Functions and Frequencies in Hong Kong English, Indian English and Singapore English.” In: Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola & Devyani Sharma (eds.) Oxford Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199777716.013.025.
  • Hoffmann, Sebastian, Sabine Arndt-Lappe und Peter Uhrig. 2022. "Rhythm in World Englishes – Evidence from a Quantitative Analysis of Co- occurrence Patterns in a Corpus of L1 and L2 Varieties of English." In: Paula Rautionaho, Hanna Parviainen, Mark Kaunisto und Arja Nurmi (eds.) Social and Regional Variation in World Englishes. London: Routledge. 191–213.
  • Mukherjee, Joybrato & Sebastian Hoffmann. 2006. "Describing Verb-Complementational Profiles of New Englishes: A Pilot Study of Indian English." English World-Wide 27:2, 147-173.
  • Smith, Nicholas, Hoffmann, Sebastian and Paul Rayson. 2008. “Corpus Tools and Methods, Today and Tomorrow: Incorporating Linguists’ Manual Annotations.” Literary and Linguistic Computing, 23(2): 163-180.
  • Torgersen, Eivind Nessa; Gabrielatos, Costas; Hoffmann, Sebastian. 2017. “A Corpus-based Analysis of the Pragmatic Marker You Get Me.” In: Eric Friginal (ed.) Studies in Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics. London: Routedge. 178–198.
  • Tottie, Gunnel & Sebastian Hoffmann. 2006. "Tag Questions in British and American English." Journal of English Linguistics 34:4. 283-311.
  • Tottie, Gunnel and Sebastian Hoffmann. 2009. “Tag Questions in English – The First Century.” Journal of English Linguistics, 37(2): 130-161.