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Curriculum Vitae

Werdegang

Dr. phil. Benjamin Lowell Sluckin

Publications, Theses, & Talks

Employment:

2018-present,
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (100%)
Ruhr-Universität Bochum,
Germanistisches Institut,
Lehrstuhl für germanistische Linguistik
Sprachgeschichte/historische Linguistik

In English: Lecturer (non-tenured), at Chair of German and historical linguistics, German Dept., Ruhr-University Bochum)

2016-2018,
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (65%) (Doctoral Research associate)
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,
Research Unit for (experimental) Syntax and Heritage Languages
Linguistics section of the English Department

* Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter is a vague catch-all term of employment in German academia without a single translation. It can have zero teaching or 8/9 hours per week involved. It can include research only or teaching only contracts. I have thus tried to give as accurate English translations as possible, given that I have both research and teaching duties. Hence for Brtitish English, Lecturer is probably the best translation, while for American English, my position is equivalent to a non-tenure track asst. Prof.

Education:

2016-2021,
PhD in Linguistics, Humboldt Univeristy of Berlin
Thesis Non-canonical subjects and subject positions: locative inversion V2-violations, and feature inheritance
summa cum laude
Supervisors: Prof Artemis Alexiadou, Prof Eric Fuß (Bochum), Prof. David Willis (Jesus College, Oxford)

2015-2016
MPhil in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge
Class: Distinction, Bateman Scholar
Supervisor: Dr David Willis
Thesis: Exaptation across Grammatical Domains: Source Contexts, Mechanisms and Outcomes (high distinction)

2011-2015
B.A (Hons) in Middle Eastern and Modern European Languages,
The University of Manchester
Class: I with distinctions in spoken German and Arabic
Dissertation: Zurück in die Zukunft: a socio-historical linguistic account of the development of the future tense in German (Class:I)

Skills:

LaTeX (good)
HTML/CSS (good)
Python & R (lower intermediate, AI-assisted)
CorpusSearch (intermediate/good)

AI & Digital Skills:

I make practical use of current AI tools in both my research and everyday academic workflow – for data preparation, corpus and experiment tooling, and task automation. In particular, I have experience with:

A particular focus of mine is the pedagogically productive use of AI in teaching and research training. I have built system-level tools for students – including a configurable „research-mode“ rule set that they install in their AI tools (as a Project or Gem) – that keep AI use within university examination guidelines and steer it towards critical thinking rather than the outsourcing of it. I am actively incorporating these into my teaching, guiding students to use AI as a sceptical interlocutor and methodological tutor that augments their research and deepens their learning, rather than as a substitute for their own reasoning (see my KI-Leitfaden and guide to efficient AI use).

Languages:

Fluent (C1-2): English (native), German (C2), Italian (C2)
Intermediate (B1/B2): French, Arabic
Beginner (A1/A2): Modern Hebrew
Experience with older languages: Historical German, Historical English, Old Romance varieties, Classical Arabic

Service:

June 2022, Co-organiser of workshop "The Theory and Historical Development of Expletives" at Ruhr-Universität Bochum
February 2019, Co-organiser of conSOLE at Humboldt University of Berlin
June 2017, Organised workshop "Heads, Phrases, Ts and Nodes: Syntactic movement in the 21st Century" at Humboldt University of Berlin (with Artemis Alexiadou)

Reviewed for: International Journal of Bilingualism, Journal of Historical Syntax, Glossa, Isogloss, OUP, Sage Open, various conferences

Teaching Experience:

Supervision: I have supervised 5 BA dissertations on diachronic linguistics, sociolinguistics, multilingualism, and child language acquisition.

AI in teaching: I develop and integrate pedagogically productive, examination-compliant uses of generative AI into my teaching, guiding students to augment their research and learning rather than outsource their thinking (see my KI-Leitfaden).

SS 2026 Generative Syntax; advanced seminar (Hauptseminar) @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2026 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2025/26 Soziolinguistik (Sociolinguistics); BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2025/26 Reading German Linguistics in English; BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2025 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2025 Soziolinguistische Variation (Sociolinguistic Variation); BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2024/25 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2024/25 Soziolinguistische Variation (Sociolinguistic Variation); BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2024 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2024 Historische Syntaxanalyse (Historical Syntactic Analysis); advanced seminar (Hauptseminar) @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2023/24 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2023/24 Formale Ansätze in der Syntaxtheorie: Modellierung und Variation (Formal Approaches to Syntactic Theory: Modelling and Variation); advanced seminar (Hauptseminar) @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2023 Soziolinguistische Variation (Sociolinguistic Variation); BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2023 Historische Syntax: Empirie und Theorie (Historical Syntax: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives); advanced seminar (Hauptseminar) @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2022/23 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
WS 2022/23 Historische Syntax (Historical Syntax); advanced seminar (Hauptseminar) @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2022 Grundkurs Germanistische Linguistik, Teil 2: Diachronie (Introduction to German Linguistics II: Diachrony); BA Grundkurs / intro course @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
SS 2022 Synchrone und diachrone Satzstruktur: Generative Ansätze (Synchronic and Diachronic Clause Structure: Generative Approaches); BA Proseminar @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2020/21 Processes of Language Change; BA seminar, @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2020/21 Synchrone und diachrone Satzstruktur: Generative Ansätze -(synchronic and diacronic clause structure: Generative approches); BA seminar, @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2019/20 Historische Morphosyntax (Historical Morphosyntax); BA seminar, @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2018/19 Typologie: Sprachliche Variation (Typology: Language Variation); BA seminar, @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2018 - Diachronie (Diachrony); BA, Grundkurs/ Intro course, 2x every semester @ Ruhr-Universität Bochum
2018 Historical Syntax (of English); BA Seminar @ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2017/18 Processes of Language Change; Advanced BA Seminar @ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (with Jens Hopperdietzel)
2016 Guest lecture - Introduction to Syntax ' Diachronic syntax and negation'; BA level @ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Honours:

2016 - Bateman Scholar of Trinity Hall College, University of Cambridge
2015/16 - The Philological Society Masters Bursary, awarded to four outstanding young scholars in UK
2012/13 - The Walters scholarship for all round excellence, The University of Manchester, German studies department