QLVL members - Dirk Geeraerts

 

Dirk Geeraerts (°1955) is professor of linguistics at the University of Leuven. He studied Germanic Languages (Dutch and English), with a specialization in theoretical linguistics. He also holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. In 1981, he received his PhD in linguistics from the university in Leuven.
From 1977 to 1985, he worked at the Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie in Leiden (The Netherlands), as an editor of the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (the Dutch counterpart of the OED). After an interlude at the department of Dutch of the university of Leiden, he taught Dutch linguistics at the university of Kortrijk from 1986 to 1993. Since 1993, he holds the chair in theoretical linguistics at the university of Leuven.

E-mail: dirk.geeraerts@arts.kuleuven.be
URL: http://www.kuleuven.be/cv/u0003828e.htm
Phone: ++32 16 32 48 15
Fax: ++32 16 32 47 67
Surface mail: Department of Linguistics, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, PO Box 03308, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
Office: room 02.43 of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Leuven

 

Research

Dirk Geeraerts' main research interests involve the overlapping fields of lexical semantics, lexicology, and lexicography, with a specific focus on social variation and diachronic change.

His theoretical orientation is mainly that of Cognitive Linguistics, with a special emphasis on empirical methods for linguistic analysis. His involvement with Cognitive Linguistics dates from the 1980s, when his PhD was one of the first in Europe to explore the possibilities of a prototype-theoretical model of categorization.

As the founder of the journal Cognitive Linguistics, he played an important role in the international expansion of Cognitive Linguistics. He is the editor, with Hubert Cuyckens, of The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Since 2005, he is managing editor of Mouton de Gruyter's Cognitive Linguistics Research series.

Representative publications

Monographs and edited works constitute the main publications of Dirk Geeraerts: click on the links below for descriptions. Recent articles are mentioned in the joint QLVL publication list.

[2010] Ten Lectures on Cognitive Sociolinguistics
[2010] Theories of Lexical Semantics
[2007] The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics
[2006] Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings
[2006] Words and Other Wonders
[2005] Van Dale Groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal, ed. 14
[2000] Van Dale Groot woordenboek der Nederlandse taal op cd-rom
[1999] Convergentie en divergentie in de Nederlandse woordenschat
[1997] Diachronic Prototype Semantics
[1994] The Structure of Lexical Variation
[1989] Wat er in een woord zit
[1986] Woordbetekenis
[1985] Paradigm and Paradox
[1982] Wegwijs in woordenboeken