Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of English Linguistics
Research
My research interests are in the fields of Cognitive Linguistics, corpus linguistics, experimental psycholinguistics, and second language teaching and learning. I am especially interested in metaphor, and in the relationship between spatial language, bodily experience and cognition.
My research project (2010-2014) Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Teaching: A case study of the English prepositions in, at, and on (funded by The Swedish Academy and The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities) focuses on the usage patterns of Swedish and English prepositions, and on applying insights gained from these analyses to the teaching and learning of English prepositions.
I received my Ph.D in English Linguistics from Luleå University of Technology in 2005. My thesis Technology, Language and Thought: Extensions of Meaning in the English Lexicon deals with how important inventions and discoveries have helped people to structure language and thought in metaphorical ways.
I was a post-doctoral Fellow in the Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) (funded by the Swedish Research Council) 2008- 2010 . There I conducted research on vocal iconic gestures, and on embodied motivations for motion metaphors combining corpus linguistic and experimental methods.
Research visits
2008-2010: Postdoctoral fellow, Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), USA.
March 1-April 31, 2014: Visiting scholar, Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
July 21-December 21, 2014 : Visiting scholar, Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), USA.
Other
Associate Editor of Metaphor and Symbol. 2020-
Co-chair (together with Linda Greve, the Science Museums, Aarhus University) of the Scandinavian network for metaphor research MetNet Scandinvania. Follow us on Twitter, Follow us on Instagram. (2018-)
Member (President) of the Governing Board of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) 2017-2019. Member (Treasurer) of the Governing Board of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) 2013-2017.
Member (Secretary) of the Governing Board of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) 2011-2013.
Associate Editor of Bibliography of Metaphor and Metonymy (Metbib). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2012-2014.
Associate Editor for the Public Journal of Semiotics (PJOS). 2015-2017
Member of the research network CogLing UmU. (2017-)
Teaching and supervision
I teach linguistics courses and supervise essays at various levels. I am supervisor for PhD candidates Leonardo Nazar, Kajsa Törma (main supervisor), and Quijun Zhang (co-supervisor) . Previous supervision: Per Boström (PhD degree, September 21 2018) (co-supervisor), Elena Glotova (Phd degree, June 11 2021) (co-supervisor), and Daniel Kjellander (PhD degree May 5 2022)(main supervisor).
I was appointed recognised university teacher at Umeå university in 2020.
Previous teaching and supervision
Luleå University of Technology (1998-2003), and Stockholm University (Jan 2006- Dec 2007).