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Ilona Vandergriff
Professor of German
(Ph.D, University of California at Berkeley)
Ilona Vandergriff is Professor
of German and Coordinator of the German Program. She received her B.A.
equivalent in German and English from the Free University of Berlin
and her M.A. in German from San Francisco State University. Currently,
she is serving as undergraduate, credential, and graduate adviser. Prof.
Vandergriff teaches courses primarily in language, linguistics, and
culture.
Her research interests focus on syntax and pragmatics, Construction Grammar, discourse analysis, in particular with regard to how speakers use German in interaction. Corpus-based analyses of spoken language reveal authentic usage phenomena, which are often deemed “incorrect” when compared to canonical usages. Analyses of spoken German, for example, have shown that native speakers regularly use different grammatical constructions than writers. Since descriptive grammar is still largely based on written usage, scholars of language traditionally have had little to say about these usage phenomena. Even widespread spoken usage phenomena are frequently simply labeled as grammatical errors, performance errors, impoverished language, idioms or special usages. Within the framework of Construction Grammar, she seeks to account for such usage phenomena. Her 2009 article entitled “Conditionals and Mental Space Set-up: Evidence from German Word Order” is part of a collection of articles published under the title Context and Construction Grammar. The book focuses on the function, role, and structure of linguistic and extralinguistic “context(s)” in relation to the notion of “constructions” and in construction grammar. It thus takes up and brings together two equally complex concepts of linguistics, which both encompass structural as well as pragmatic and discourse-oriented aspects. Although both notions – contexts as well as constructions – have been under intense discussion in linguistics during the last decades with a wide span of research interests, integrative studies of these aspects have been largely missing. A second article (“Staging dialogue – Commenting wenn ‘if’-constructions in German persuasive discourse”) has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis (JGLSA). In addition, she has published articles on how usage phenomena are represented in language learning materials, including one with two SFSU graduate student co-authors Kimberly Mueller and David Barry, entitled “Authentic Models and Usage Norms: Gender Marking in First-Year German Textbooks.” It appeared in Teaching German/Die Unterrichtspraxis 41(2). 144-150.
A second strand of her research agenda investigates how learners use German in classroom discourse. Recently, she conducted an empirical study that investigates online discourse, with a focus on social practice, building common ground, humor and language play. She co-authored a 2009 article with C. Fuchs (Teachers’ College, Columbia University) “Does CMC promote language play? Exploring humor in two modalities” CALICO Journal 27(1). Her article “Humor and Play in CMC” has been accepted for publication in the Handbook of Research on Discourse Behavior and Digital Communication: Language Structures and Social Interaction, edited by R. Taiwo. Another article on humor support in synchronous computer-mediated communication is under review.Selected recent and upcoming conference presentations:
“Grammar and the Language of Dictatorship,” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), San Francisco, November 6-7, 2009“Politeness in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (“Chat”),” LIAR II - Linguistic Impoliteness And Rudeness II, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, 30 June - 2 July 2009
“Quatschen, schnacken, schwätze or babbele? A Workshop on German Dialects,” co-presented with Beate Stopfer (M.A. candidate in German, SFSU), 2009 Convention of the California Language Teachers’ Association, Sacramento, CA, February 28, 2009
“Humor in Computer-mediated Communication,” AILA 2008 – The 15th World Congress of Applied Linguistics, Essen, Germany, August 24-29, 2008
“Staging Dialogue: Commenting Conditionals in German Political
Speeches,”
Berkeley Germanic Linguistics Roundtable, Berkeley, California, April
4-5, 2008
“Humor Support in Computer-mediated Communication,” with Carolin Fuchs (Columbia University), 2008 Conference of the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium, San Francisco, California, March 18-22, 2008
“The Persuasive Power of Conditionals,” 2007 Convention of the Modern Language Association, Chicago, Illinois, December 2007
“Foreign Language Play and CMC,” with Carolin Fuchs (University of California, Berkeley), Colloquium on Foreign Language Play, American Association for Applied Linguistics 2007 Conference, April 2007, Costa Mesa, California.
“Why knowing the right words and correct grammar is not enough
or are the French more polite than the Spaniards?” co-presented
with Lejla Cizmic and Claudia Weller (M.A. candidates in German, SFSU),
2007 Convention of the California Language Teachers’ Association,
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, March 31, 2007 [juried workshop]