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Thomas Olander
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Born 19 April 1974 in Copenhagen, Denmark
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Presentation
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I am a historical linguist dealing with Indo-European languages. My research has a primary focus on Slavic, but I have a general interest in all ancient and some modern Indo-European languages, and in the reconstruction of the Indo-European proto-language. I am also working with the relationship between Slavic and Baltic and with the phylogenetics of the Indo-European language family in general. Another interest of mine is Danish and general phonology and morphology.
In my 2009 book Balto-Slavic accentual mobility I compared the so-called mobile accent paradigms of Baltic and Slavic (e.g. Russian nominative singular golová, accusative gólovu, genitive golový etc.), concluding that they have arisen as the result of an accent loss in final syllables with a certain structure. The main conclusion of the book may be expressed with the formula μ[+H] > [-H] / _C₀#.
My 2015 book Proto-Slavic inflectional morphology: A comparative handbook (based on my habilitation thesis, also from 2015) contains a reconstruction of the inflectional endings of Proto-Slavic and an analysis of their historical relationship with the corresponding endings of Baltic and the remaining Indo-European languages.
Currently I am the leader of the research project Connecting the Dots: Reconfiguring the Indo-European family tree (2019–2022), financed by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The purpose of the project is to examine the relationship between the Indo-European language branches, in particular the ramification after the separation of Anatolian and Tocharian. The project also examines to what extent the linguistic family tree can be correlated with the archaeological evidence.
I am also a core member of the project Languages and Myths of Prehistory (LAMP): Unravelling the speech and beliefs of the unwritten past (2020–2025), financed by the Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. The LAMP project aims to combine our linguistic knowledge of prehistoric stages of the Indo-European language family with archaeology and mythology.
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Degrees
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11/2015
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Doctor of Philosophy (Danish dr.phil.) in Indo-European Studies at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, with the habilitation thesis Proto-Slavic inflectional morphology: A comparative handbook
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06/2011
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Learning and Teaching in Higher Education programme at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (September 2010 – June 2011) · poster on teaching over Skype to a class at Vilnius University
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05/2006
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PhD in Slavic and Baltic historical linguistics at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, with the dissertation Accentual mobility: the prehistory of the Balto-Slavic mobile accent paradigms
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10/2002
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MA (Danish Magister, mag.art.) in Indo-European Studies, University of Copenhagen
Subjects: Greek and Italic, Indo-Iranian, Germanic, Albanian, Balto-Slavic, Armenian, Paper 1 (“Den mobile accent i baltoslavisk” [“The mobile accent in Balto-Slavic”]), Paper 2 (“Om den slaviske neoakut og Dybos og Stangs love” [“On the Slavic neoacute and the laws of Dybo and Stang”])
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05/2002
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Gold medal for the prize dissertation Det baltoslaviske problem: accentologien [The Balto-Slavic problem: accentology] in Indo-European Studies, University of Copenhagen 2001
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06/1999
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BA in Indo-European Studies and Bulgarian, University of Copenhagen
Subjects: Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics, Introduction to Linguistics, Introduction to Phonetics, Gothic, Proto-Indo-European Morphology, General and Danish Phonology, Sanskrit, Laryngeal Theory, Historical Linguistics, Indo-European Ablaut, Latin, Greek, Vedic, Language Typology and Language Classification; Bulgarian phonetics, Written Translation Bulgarian-Danish, Bulgarian Grammar; Polish Propaedeutics, Polish Phonetics
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6/1994
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Graduated from Østre Borgerdydskole (passing the Studentereksamen), Copenhagen, with Greek, Latin, and German as advanced-level subjects
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Positions
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02/2019 – 08/2019
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External lecturer in Indo-European Studies, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen
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01/2019
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Academic officer, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen
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09/2015 – 12/2018
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Associate professor (non-tenured) of Indo-European Studies, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen
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02/2014 – 08/2015
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Part-time lecturer of Indo-European Studies, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen
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10/2012 – 12/2013
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Associate professor (non-tenured) at Roots of Europe, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen · project homepage
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10/2008 – 10/2012
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Postdoc at Roots of Europe, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen (parental leaves: 7–20 November 2008 and 4 July to 25 September 2009; 6–19 April 2010 and 1 January to 22 March 2011)
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10/2006 – 09/2008
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Danish lecturer at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” · various courses on Danish language, see teaching section
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02/2003 – 03/2006
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09/2002 – 01/2003
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Teaching assistant at the Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Copenhagen
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Stays abroad
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11/2016
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Guest researcher at Gothenburg University, Sweden
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10/2006 – 09/2008
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Danish lecturer at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (passed test in “Bulgarian as a Foreign Language” at level C1)
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04/2005 – 06/2005
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Research at Humboldt University, Berlin
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09/2000 – 07/2001
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Studies in Russian, History of the Polish Language, and History of the Czech Language at Saint Petersburg State University, Russia (passed test in “Russian as a Foreign Language” at level 3 (out of 4) in the testing system of the Russian Ministery of Education)
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08/1998
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Summer course in Slovak for Foreigners (“Studia Academica Slovaca”), elementary level, at the University of Bratislava, Slovakia
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08/1997
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Summer course in Polish for Foreigners (“Polonicum”), intermediate level, at the University of Warsaw, Poland
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02/1997 – 07/1997
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Studies in Modern Bulgarian and Old Bulgarian at Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria
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09/1991 – 06/1992
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Italian 3rd grade at the “Liceo Scientifico Statale ‘Piero Gobetti’”, Florence, Italy
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08/1990 – 06/1991
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German 10th grade at the “Hildegard-Wegscheider Oberschule” in Wilmersdorf, West Berlin, West Germany
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Organisation of scientific meetings
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Sept. 2017
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Co-organiser, The Split: Reconstructing Early Indo-European Language and Culture (international conference), University of Copenhagen
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Feb. 2017
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Organiser, The Indo-European Family Tree (international workshop), University of Copenhagen
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July–Aug. 2016
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Co-organiser, Roots of Europe Summer School 2016, University of Copenhagen (main organiser: Benedicte Nielsen Whitehead)
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July–Aug. 2015
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Co-organiser, Roots of Europe Summer School 2015, University of Copenhagen (main organiser: Benedicte Nielsen Whitehead)
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2008 – 2015
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Co-organiser of lectures and block seminars at the Roots of Europe project, University of Copenhagen
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Oct. 2013
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Co-organiser, Indo-European Rules (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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Dec. 2012
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Co-organiser, Tracing the Indo-Europeans (international conference), University of Copenhagen
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Oct. 2012
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Co-organiser, Indo-European Words That Matter (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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Sept. 2012
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Co-organiser, Etymology and the European Lexicon (international conference), University of Copenhagen
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Nov. 2011
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Co-organiser, Indo-European Matters Even More (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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April 2011
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Co-organiser, Anatolian Spring (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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Oct. 2010
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Co-organiser, Indo-European Still Matters (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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Oct. 2009
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Co-organiser, Indo-European Matters (international seminar), University of Copenhagen
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April 2009
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Co-organiser, The Sound of Indo-European: Phonetics, Phonemics, and Morphophonemics (international conference), University of Copenhagen
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Sept. 2006
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Co-organiser, Second International Workshop on Balto-Slavic Accentology, University of Copenhagen
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Miscellaneous
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2016–present
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Editor, Scando-Slavica
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2016–present
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Editor, Mål & Mæle
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2006–2019
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Assistant editor, Tocharian and Indo-European Studies
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2014–present
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Series editor, Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European
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2015–present
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Chairman, Danish Association of Slavists
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2009–2015
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Vice chairman, Danish Association of Slavists
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2012–present
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Member, Indogermanische Gesellschaft
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2008/2009 & 2009/2010
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Winner of Danish championship in outdoor field hockey with Copenhagen Hockey Club
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2006/2007 & 2007/2008
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Winner of Bulgarian championship in outdoor field hockey with Nacionalna Sportna Akademija
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