Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen is a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and Professor of French Language and Linguistics at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, UK.

Biography

Hansen studied at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

, where she received an MA (

Cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of stud ...

) in 1992, a PhD in 1996 (dissertation title: ''The Function of Discourse Particles: A Study with Special Reference to Spoken Standard French''), and a

higher doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...

in 2008 (''Particles at the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic Issues''). On completion of her PhD she took up an assistant professorship at the same university, and was promoted to associate professor in 2000. In 2007 she moved to the

to take up her current position as Professor of French Language and Linguistics. She was elected Fellow of the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

in 2013, and Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

in 2020.

Research

Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen's research falls within the broad areas of

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comp ...

and

pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the in ...

, from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective, with the French language as primary empirical domain. Research areas include verbal interaction, functional and cognitive linguistics, differences between spoken and written French, and Peircean

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

. Her early work focused especially on discourse particles/markers, and she has also worked extensively on the pragmatics of negation and Jespersen's Cycle. She is currently editor of Brill's ''Studies in Pragmatics'' series, and coordinator of an international network on the role of pragmatics in cyclic language change.

Selected publications

* Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 1997. ''Alors'' and ''donc'' in spoken French: a reanalysis. ''Journal of Pragmatics'' 28(2), 153–187. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 1998. ''The function of discourse particles: a study with special reference to spoken standard French.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 1998. The semantic status of discourse markers. ''Lingua'' 104(3-4), 235–260. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard, and Corinne Rosari. 2005. The evolution of pragmatic markers. ''Journal of Historical Pragmatics'' 6(2), 177–349. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard, and Jacqueline Visconti (eds.). 2007. ''Current Trends in Diachronic Semantics and Pragmatics.'' Leiden: Brill. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2008. ''Particles at the semantics/pragmatics interface: Synchronic and diachronic issues. A study with special reference to the French phasal adverbs.'' Leiden: Brill. * Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard, and Jacqueline Visconti (eds.). 2014. ''The diachrony of negation.'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard Women linguists Living people Academics of the University of Manchester Linguists of French Semanticists Pragmaticists Historical linguists University of Copenhagen alumni Year of birth missing (living people)