Research Profile

My research lies at the intersection of historical linguistics, descriptive linguistics, and linguistic typology, with a focus on Sino-Tibetan and Indo-European languages. I am particularly interested in the Himalayan region and have conducted fieldwork on several Sino-Tibetan minority languages of the North Indian Himalayas. My research interests include agreement systems, evidentiality and egophoricity, language contact, and the theory and practice of historical-comparative reconstruction and classification.

A Comparative Grammar of West Himalayish

This project aims to provide a historical-comparative reconstruction of West Himalayish, a subgroup of about a dozen Sino-Tibetan minority languages spoken in the North Indian Himalayas. It seeks to establish a systematic reconstruction of Proto-West Himalayish phonology, morphology, and lexicon, including the compilation of a comparative dictionary of the West Himalayish languages.

Ghar Valley (Lahaul)
Ghar Valley (Lahaul)
Kinnaur Kailash Range (Kinnaur)
Kinnaur Kailash Range (Kinnaur)
Sunnam Village in Ropa Valley (Kinnaur)
Sunnam Village in Ropa Valley (Kinnaur)
Conducting fieldwork in Chhtikhul village (Kinnaur)
Conducting fieldwork in Chhtikhul village (Kinnaur)

Publications

Selected publications

Widmer, Manuel, Auderset Sandra, Johanna Nichols, Paul Widmer & Balthasar Bickel (2017). NP recursion over time: Evidence from Indo-European. Language 93(4), 799–826. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2017.0058

Widmer, Manuel (2017). A grammar of Bunan. Mouton Grammar Library. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110766295

Widmer, Manuel and Marius Zemp (2017). “The epistemization of person markers in reported speech”. In: Studies in Language 41.4, pp. 33–75. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.1.02wid

Widmer, Manuel (2020). “Same same but different: on the relationship between egophoricity and evidentiality”. In: Evidentiality, egophoricity, and engagement. Ed. by Henrik Bergqvist and Seppo Kittilä. Berlin: Language Science Press, pp. 263–287. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3968344

Widmer, Manuel (2021). “Reconstructing the linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas: endangered minority languages as a window to the past”. In: Historical linguistics and endangered languages: exploring diversity in language change. Ed. by Patience Epps, Danny Law, and Na’ama Pat-El. London: Routledge, pp. 263–293. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429030390

Widmer, Manuel (forthcoming). “Evidentiality, Egophoricity, and Reported Speech”. In: The Oxford Handbook of Tibeto-Burman Languages. Ed. by Kristine Hildebrandt, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Yankee Modi, and David Peterson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Teaching

FS 2026 : Die westhimalayischen Sprachen und die historische Sprachwissenschaft des Sinotibetischen (BA/MA)

HS 2018 : Historische Syntax (MA)

FS 2017​ : Einführung Morphologie (BA)

HS 2016​ : Diachrone Konstruktionsgrammatik (MA)

FS 2016​ : Einführung Syntax (BA)

HS 2015 ​: Historische Syntax (MA)

FS 2015​ : Epistemische Verbalkategorien (BA/MA)

HS 2012 : ​Einführung in die Historische Sprachwissenschaft (BA)

FS 2012​ : Wissenschaftliches Schreiben & Arbeiten (BA)

FS 2012 : ​Einführung in die Indogermanistik (BA)

HS 2011 : ​Einführung in die Historische Sprachwissenschaft (BA)

FS 2011 : ​Wissenschaftliches Schreiben & Arbeiten (BA)

FS 2011 : ​Einführung in die Indogermanistik (BA)

HS 2010​ : Einführung in die Historische Sprachwissenschaft (BA)