Svetoslava Antonova-Baumann

Having always been interested in languages, I jumped at the opportunity to study for an undergraduate degree in a language different from my native Bulgarian, in a foreign country – Germany. In 2008 I was awarded a Scholarship from the University of Mannheim for the best grades in my course. A Master’s degree later, I was honoured to receive a fully-funded PhD studentship at Northumbria University in 2011.

My research interests include Cognitive Linguistics (more specifically, the relationship between language and cognition) and bilingualism.

Qualifications

BA in English and American Studies with a focus on Linguistics, Mannheim University, Germany – 2009
MA in English Linguistics, Stockholm University, Sweden - 2011

Thesis

Title: Word formation and cognition: A cross-linguistic study of the effects of compounds and nominal phrases on cognition

My research project aims at exploring the implications of different native languages — English, Swedish, German and Bulgarian — on cognition in the form of domain associations invoked by compound words and nominal phrases, as well as memory for ‘wholes’ versus ‘parts’. The project investigates the relationship between the use of nominal phrases and compounds on the one hand, and conceptualisation, on the other. Some languages, such as German or Swedish, tend to express concepts by using compounds instead of phrases. By contrast, other languages, for example Bulgarian, have a preference for nominal phrases rather than compounds. English seems to occupy an intermediate position, utilising both compounds and phrases. The crucial question is whether these formal differences outlined above have any bearing on cognition. Exploring different types of word formation and their relation to conceptualisation will add a further dimension to the debate on language and thought, especially in the realm of thinking for speaking, i.e. online thought processes recruited prior to language production and comprehension.

Contact

Faculty of Arts, Design & Social Sciences
Northumbria University
The Glenamara Centre
Lipman Building, room 127
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST
svetoslava.antonova-baumann@northumbria.ac.uk

Supervisors

Prof Ewa Dabrowska (Primary)
Dr James Street (Secondary)