Hi there!
I'm Niklas Reinken, Junior Professor of Grammar in Schools at the University of Leipzig and my passion is linguistics.
“Linguistics? Doesn't that sound pretty dry?” Don't worry, the exact opposite is true! As a linguist, I research the fascinating mechanisms behind our daily communication. I discover structures and patterns that show how language(s) works – and I'm pleased to give you a little insight into my work on this page.
My main areas of research
- Grammar of German
- Grammar and grammar teaching in schools
- Teaching grammar with online resources
- Graphematics and orthography
- Punctuation and punctuation didactics
- Writing system research
- Graphetics and handwriting research
My focus is on writing system research, particularly in the areas of German graphematics, graphetics, punctuation and handwriting research. My approach is both phenomenological and structuralist – but what exactly does that mean?
Phenomenological and structuralist – what does that mean?
Phenomenological means that I study concrete linguistic phenomena in order to derive general theories from them. I mainly use empirical and corpus linguistic methods for this. In other words, I collect data, categorize and systematize it and relate it to each other in order to gain new insights.
Structuralist in turn means that language is a system in which every sign has a form and a function. The concept of structure helps to recognize order and regularity even in seemingly chaotic areas of language.
One example: In my dissertation, I investigated how handwritten letters relate to their functions in the writing system. The result? Many variants do not occur randomly, but are closely linked to certain positions in the syllable. For everyday school life, this means that standardized source fonts that do not allow any variants may not be an optimal fit for our writing system.
Grammar and spelling – a strong team!
Grammar and spelling are often taught separately at school. Yet both areas could benefit so much from each other!
- Explain spelling with grammar: German Capitalization and spelling, for example, can be perfectly linked to grammatical rules.
- Explain grammar with spelling: You can identify characteristics of the grammatical system from phenomena such as hyphenation and contraction or the placement of commas.
Combining these areas opens up exciting new avenues for teaching – and this is exactly what inspires me in my research.
I would be happy to discuss this with you!