Prof. Dr. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

born June 8, 1955 in Eibergen (the Netherlands)

  • Contact office: +49.221.470.5762 or +49.221.470.3504
  • Fax: +49.221.470.5158
  • Consultation hours: by arrangement per e-mail
  • E-mail: gerrit.dimmendaal@uni-koeln.de (Gerrit J. Dimmendaal)

Academic education

1973-1978 African studies, History, Arabic, Comparative literature, Leiden University (the Netherlands)
1982 PhD The Turkana Language, Leiden University (the Netherlands)

Academic assignments

1984-2000 Lecturer Department of African linguistics, Leiden University (the Netherlands)
1990: Fulbright scholar, Dept. of Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley (USA)
1995-1997: Visiting Professor African Studies, , University Ghent (Belgium)
1998: Visiting scholar, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Australian National University, Canberra
December 2005-April 2006: Distinguished visiting scholar, Institute for Advanced Studies and Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, Melbourne (Australia)
2000-present: Professor of African Studies, University of Cologne

Supervision of doctoral dissertations

see list

Current research projects

2006-2011: Susan Alamin, Abeer Bashir, Meike Meerpohl, Abdelrahim Mugaddam, Gertrud Schneider-Blum. A multi-media documentation of Tima (Volkswagen-Stiftung)
2009-2011: Beniam Mitiku. The Harari Language (German Academic Exchange Service)
2009-2012: John Vanderelst. The Dagik Language (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
2011-2014: Mumin, Meikal . The Chimwiini Language (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
2011-2013: Birgit Hellwig, Gertrud Schneider-Blum. Documenting Tabaq: a Hill Nubian language of the Sudan, in its sociolinguistic context (The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project, London)

Research interests

Comparative study of African languages, anthropological linguistics, descriptive and documentary linguistics, language typology








Recent publications

  • Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.
    • 2003. Nilo-Saharan. In William Frawley (ed.), Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. 2nd revised edition, pp. 160-63. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • 2003. Locatives as core constituents. In Erin Shay and Uwe Seibert (eds.), Motion, Direction and Location in Languages, pp. 91-109. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2003. Baale. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica I, pp. 423-24. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2004. Morphologie. In Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse (eds.), Langues Africaines. pp. 193-229. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
    • 2004. Capacity building in an African context. In Peter Austin (ed.), Language Description and Language Documentation Vol. 2, pp. 71-89. London: SOAS.
    • 2005. Head marking, dependent marking and constituent order in the Nilotic area. In: F.K. Erhard Voeltz (ed.), Studies in African Linguistic Typology, pp. 71-92. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
    • 2005. Entries on Nilo-Saharan, The Central Sudanic languages, The peoples known as Mimi. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
    • 2006. Dinka. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 3:596. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2006. Kanuri. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 6:154-155. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2006. Luo. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 7:340-341. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2006. Nilo-Saharan. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 8:638-642. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2006. Nilo-Saharan. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclo­pedia of Language and Linguistics 8:638-642. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2006. Songai. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International 2006. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 11:514-515. Oxford: Elsevier.
    • 2007. The Wadi Howar diaspora: Linking linguistic diffusion to palaeoclimatological and archaeological findings. In: Olaf Bubenzer, Andreas Bolten, and Frank Darius (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa, pp. 148-149. Cologne: Heinrich-Barth-Institut.
    • 2007. Africa’s verb-final languages. In: Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse (eds.), A Linguistic Geography of Africa, pp. 271-307. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    • 2007. Historical linguistics. In John Middleton and Joseph C. Miller (eds.), New Encyclopedia of Africa Vol. 3, pp. 312-315. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
    • 2007. Nyangatom. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.III, pp. 1131-1132. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2007. Nilo-Saharan. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.III, pp. 1182-118. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2007. Nilotic. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.III, pp. 1185-1186 . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2007. Nuer. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica.III, pp. 1197-1199. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2007. Eastern Sudanic and the Wadi Howar and Wadi El Milk diaspora. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 18:37-67.
    • 2008. Language ecology and linguistic diversity on the African continent. Language and Linguistics Compass 2(5): 840-858.
    • 2008. The historical development of Nilotic: A testcase for cladistic and rhizotic models of language change. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 19:31-66.
    • 2008. But Steven Pinker said … In Theresa Hanske, Dejan Matic, and Christoph Benden (eds.), Studies in Ugabuga. Festschrift for Hans-Jürgen Sasse, pp. 67-70. Cologne: Institut für Linguistik, Universität zu Köln.
    • 2009 (ed.). Coding Participant Marking: Construction Types in Twelve African African Languages. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2009. Introduction. In Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (ed.), Coding Participant Marking. Construction Types in Twelve African Languages , pp. 1-22. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2009. Tama. In Dimmendaal (ed.),Coding Participant Marking: Construction Types in Twelve African Languages , pp. 307-331. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2009. Tima. In Dimmendaal (ed.), Coding Participant Marking: Construction Types in Twelve African Languages, pp. 338-355. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2009. Datives in Nilotic in a typological perspective. Afrikanistik-Online.
    • 2010. Esoterogeny and localist strategies in a Nuba Mountain community Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 20. 75-95.
    • 2010. On the origin of ergativity in Tima. In Frank Floricic (ed.), Essais de typologie et de linguistique générale: Mélanges offerts à Denis Creissels, pp. 233-239. Lyon: Presses Universitaires de l’École Normale Superieure.
    • 2010. Differential Object Marking in Nilo-Saharan. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 31: 13-46.
    • 2010. Turkana. In Siegert Uhlig et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica IV, pp. 1003-1004. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
    • 2010. Perception and the invisible hand among Teso-Turkana groups. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 21: 35-49.
    • 2010. Language description and “the new paradigm”: What linguists may learn from ethnocinematographers. Language Documentation and Conservation 4: 152-158.
    • 2010. Ditransitive constructions in Tima. In Bernard Comrie, Martin Haspelmath and Andrej Melchikov (eds.), Studies in Ditransitive Constructions: A Comparative Handbook, pp. 204-220.  Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    • 2011. Le turkana. In Emilio Bonvini, Joeálle Busuttil et Alain Peyraube(eds.), Dictionnaire des langues, pp. 213-224. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
    • 2011. Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
    • 2012. Übersetzen. A.R.T.E.S Jahrbuch 2011: 67-71.
    • 2012. Metrical structures: A neglected property of Nilotic (and other African language families). Studies in Nilotic Linguistics 5: 1-26.
    • 2012. Marked nominative systems in Eastern Sudanic and their historical origin. Afrikanistik Online
    • 2013. Attitude markers in Nilotic in a cross-linguistic perspective. Studies in Nilotic Linguistics 6.
    • 2013. The grammar of knowledge in Tima. In Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon (ed.), The Grammar of Knowledge.Leiden: Brill.
    • In press. The grammaticalization of mood and modality in Omotic: A typological perspective. In: Azeb Amha et al. (eds.), Mood and Modality in Omotic. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
    • To appear. Different cultures, different attitudes – but how different is “the African situation” really? In Essegbey, James, Brent Henderson, and Fiona McLaughlin (eds.), Language Revitalization: An African Perspective.
    • To appear. Where have all the noun classes gone in Tima? In Carole de Féral, Maarten Kossmann, and Mauro Tosco (eds.), Hommage à Robert Nicolai. Paris:
    • To appear. Nilo-Saharan. In Rainer Vossen (ed.), Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • To appear. Linguistic isolates. In Rainer Vossen (ed.), Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • To appear. Baale. In Rainer Vossen (ed.), Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • To appear. The distribution of number marking across categories. In Anne Storch and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.),   Number in Africa and Beyond: Grammar, Semantics, and Social Deixis.
    • To appear. Derivation in Nilo-Saharan. In Rochel Lieber and Pavol Štekauer (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Derivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Alamin, Suzan, Dimmendaal, Gerrit J., Gertrud Schneider-Blum.
    • 2012. Finding your way in Tima. In Angelika Mietzner and Ulrike Claudi (eds.), Directionality in Grammar and Discourse: Case Studies from Africa, pp. 9-33. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
  • Azeb Amha and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal.
    • 2005. Depictive secondary predicates in Nilotic and Omotic: an areal comparison. In Eva Schultze-Berndt and Nikolaus Himmelmann (eds.), Secondary Predication and Adverbial Modification: The Typology of Depictives , pp. 299-321. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
    • 2005. Verbal compounding in Wolaitta. In: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R.M.W. Dixon (eds.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology, pp. 319-337. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • 2006. Converbs from an African perspective. In: Felix K. Ameka, Alan Dench and Nick Evans (eds.) Catching language: Issues in Grammar Writing, pp. 393-440. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Dimmendaal, Gerrit J., and Manuela Noske
    • 2004. Turkana. In: Geert Booij and Christian Lehmann (eds.), Morphology: A Handbook of Inflection and Wordformation, pp. 1507-1518. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Mugaddam, Abdel Rahim and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
    • 2006. Sudan: Linguistic situation. In: Keith Brown (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 12:265-270. Oxford: Elsevier.
  • Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. and F.K. Erhard Voeltz
    • 2007. Endangered languages of Africa and the Middle East. In: Chris Moseley (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the World’s Endangered Languages, pp. 579-634. London: Routledge.
  • Creissels, Denis, Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Christa König
    • 2007. Africa as a morphosyntactic area. In: Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse (eds.), A Linguistic Geography of Africa, pp. 86-150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schneider-Blum, Gertrud, and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal.
    • To appear. Excite your senses: Glances into the world of perception and cognition in Tima. In Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Anne Storch (eds.), Perception and Cognition. Leiden: Brill.