Sven Grawunder, Prof. Dr.

I am a speech scientist, phonetician and linguist. Currently I am holding a professorship for speech science and phonetics at Halle University. Beforehand for phonetics and language documentation at Frankfurt’s Goethe University at the department of Empirical Linguistics. And, I am guest scientist at the department of human behavior, ecology and culture of the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

General Interests

• comparative phonetics and vocal physiology of human primates
• linguistic voice quality/ phonation types and non-linguistic throat singing, throat games, overtone singing [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6114/1517.2.full]
• modeling language shift and change, especially sound shift and change
• human linguistic & paralinguistic vocal behavior and social hierarchies

Current Projects

• modeling sound change and linguistic contact in languages of the Causasus (espec. Dagestan) [joint work with Michael Daniel, Nina Dobrushina, George Moroz (HSE Moscow) ]
• phonetics of vocalizations in field data of wild chimpanzees in the Taï forests [joint work with Cathy Crockford (MPI EVA) and Natalie Uomini (MPI SHH Jena)]
• comparative laryngeal anatomy of great apes [joint work with Gottfried Hohmann (MPI EVA), Alexander Stoessel (MPI EVA, Uni Jena) and Ellen Schulz-Kornas (MPI EVA)]