Prof. Dr. Ilja A. Seržant
Chair Slavic linguistics
Contact information
address: Am Neuen Palais 10, Haus 01, D-14469 Potsdam
phone: + 49 331 977 4152
room: 1.1.2.06
email: serzant(@)uni-potsdam.de
Education and Academic Qualifications
- 2018 – Habilitation (the second thesis/degree) in General Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cologne (Habilitation thesis: “The Diachronic and Diatopic Variation of Partitives. Baltic, East Slavic and Some Related Languages”);
- 2012 – Ph. D., University of Bergen (“Aspects of non-prototypical subjects: synchrony, diachrony and areality”) in General Linguistics;
- 2011 – Dr. phil., University of Cologne (“Das Kausativ im Tocharischen”) in Historical-Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (thesis: magna cum laude / disputatio: summa cum laude);
- 2005 - M.A. in Indo-European Comparative Historical Linguistics and Classical Philology (Ancient Greek), University of Cologne.
Professional Assignments
- Professor (chair Slavic linguistics) at Potsdam University, Department of Slavic Studies (since April 2022)
- Heisenberg-Professor at Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Slavic & Historical linguistics, Cluster of Excellence "ROOTS" & Department of Slavonic Studies (October 2020 - March 2022)
- Heisenberg Programme from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2021-2026)
- Post-doc (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), ERC Advanced Grant Project Usage-based explanations of grammatical Universals, Department of English, University of Leipzig (2016-2020)
- Post-doc (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), TriMCo Project, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Mainz (2015-2016).
- Post-doc, ZIF-Marie-Curie, (Akademischer Mitarbeiter), Zukunftskolleg (Cluster of Excellence), Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz (2013-2015), with the project "The Diachronic Typology of Differential Argument Marking";
- Research Fellow (mokslo darbuotojas), Project: "Valency, Argument Realisation and Grammatical Relations in Baltic", University of Vilnius (2012-2015);
- PhD stipendiat, University of Bergen, (March 2011 – September 2012)
- PhD research fellow at the project "IECASTP", University of Bergen, (August 2008 to March 2011)
- Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter) in Lithuanian Linguistics at the Institute of Linguistics, University of Cologne (2006-2007)
- Participation at the Project "Incipitarium liturgischer Hymnen in ostslavischen Handschriften des 11. bis 13. Jahrhunderts“, Bonn, Patristische Kommission, NRW Akademie der Wissenschaften (2004-2005);
- Junior Researcher at the Institute of Lithuanian Language, Department of Grammar (2005-2015)
Scholarships
- Scholarship from the Norwegian University Center in St. Petersburg (Russia) (19.09.2011-30.11.2011).
- K. Būgos scholarship from the Lithuanian Ministry of Education (2008)
- Graduated Scholarship ("Graduiertenstipendium") of the University of Cologne, Subject of Research "Das Kausativ im Tocharischen", (2005-2007)
Publications
Forthcoming articles
- The Circum-Baltic Area. An Overview. In: Greenberg, Mark (ed.), Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics. Brill.
Published papers
- (2024) Jens Schneeweiß, Vanda Haferberga, Timo Ibsen, Piotr Kittel, Jerzy Sikora, Łukasz Musiaka,Hans Whitefield, Artur Ginter, Edyta Kalińska, Jacek Szmańda, Leonid Vyazov & Ilja Seržant. 2024. INHILLDAUGAR: minimally invasive fieldwork and linguistic analysis on hillforts along the Daugava river. Antiquity. 1-7. (open access)
- (2022) Seržant, Ilja A. & George Moroz, Universal attractors in language evolution provide evidence for the kinds of efficiency pressures involved, Humantieis & Social Sciences Communications 9. Article 58. (open access)
- (2022) Partitive subjects and verbal indexing. In: Gianollo, Chiara, Łukasz Jędrzejowski & Sofiana I. Lindemann (eds.), Paths through meaning and form: Festschrift offered to Klaus von Heusinger on the occasion of his 60th birthday. University of Cologne: USB Monographs. 225-231. (open access)
- (2022) Rafiyenko, Dariya & Ilja A. Seržant, Ideology and identity in grammar: A diachronic-quantitative approach to language standardization processes in Ancient Greek. In: Müller, Johannes (ed.), Connectivity Matters! Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 187-210.
- (2022) Peterson, John, Nicole Taylor, Ilja A. Seržant, Henny Piezonka, Ariba Hidayet Khan, Norbert Nübler. Connecting linguistics and archaeology in the study of identity: A first exploration. In: Johannes Müller (ed.), Connectivity Matters! Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 139-164.
- (2022) Seržant, Ilja A., Björn Wiemer, Eleni Bužarovska, Martina Ivanová, Maxim Makartsev, Stefan Savić, Dmitri Sitchinava, Karolína Skwarska, Mladen Uhlik, Areal and diachronic trends in argument flagging across Slavic. In: Eystein Dahl (ed.), Alignment and Alignment Change in the Indo-European Family. Oxford: OUP. (hopefully my last publication with OUP)
- (2021) Seržant, Ilja A., Katarzyna Janic, Darja Dermaku & Oneg Ben Dror, Typology of coding patterns and frequency effects of antipassives. Studies in Language. (open access)
- (2021) Typology of partitives. Linguistics 59(4), 881-947. (open access)
- (2021) Diachronic typology of partitives. In: Giuliana Giusti & Petra Sleeman (eds.), Partitive Determiners, Partitive Pronouns and Partitive Case. [Linguistiche Arbeiten]. Berlin: De Gruyter. (open access)
- (2021) Ilja A. Seržant & Dariya Rafiyenko, Diachronic evidence against the source-oriented explanation in typology. Evolution of Prepositional Phrases in Ancient Greek. Language Dynamics and Change. (open access)
- (2021) Slavic morphosyntax is primarily determined by the geographic location and contact configuration. Scando-Slavica 67(1), 65-90. (open access)
- (2021) Cyclic changes in verbal person-number indexes are unlikely. Folia Linguistica Historica 42(1), 49-86. (open access) (Anna Siewierska Award 2021)
- (2020) Berdicevskis, Aleksandrs, Karsten Schmidtke-Bode & Ilja A. Seržant: Subjects tend to be coded only once: Corpus-based and grammar-based evidence for an efficiency-driven trade-off. Proceedings of 19th International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories. 79-92. (open access)
- (2020) Paradigmatisation of the perfect and resultative in Tocharian. In:Thomas Jügel & Robert Crellin, eds., The Indo-European Perfect. CILT, 352. Amsterdam/New York: John Benjamins. 216-244.
- (2020) Postclassical Greek. An overview. In: Rafiyenko, D. & I. Seržant (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Postclassical Greek. Trends in Linguistics series, 335. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 1-15.
- (2019) Weak universal forces: The discriminatory function of case in differential object marking systems. In: Schmidtke-Bode, Karsten, Natalia Levshina, Susanne M. Michaelis & Ilja A. Seržant (eds.), Explanation in typology: Diachronic sources, functional motivations and the nature of the evidence. [Conceptual Foundations of Language]. Berlin: Language Science Press. 149-178. (open access)
- (2018) Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena & Ilja A. Seržant 2017: Differential argument marking: Patterns of variation. In: Seržant, I. A. & A. Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Diachrony of differential argument marking. [Studies in Diversity Linguistics]. Berlin: Language Science Press. 1-40. http://langsci-press.org/. (open access)
- (2017) Diachrony and typology of Slavic aspect: What does morphology tell us? (together with Björn Wiemer). In: Bisang, Walter & Andrej Malchukov (eds.), Unity and diversity in grammaticalization scenarios. [Studies in diversity linguistics 16] Berlin: Language Science Press. 239-307. (open access)
- (2016) Lexikalisierte Reduplikationsbildungen im Tocharischen. In: Hajnal, Ivo, Daniel Kölligan & Katharina Zipser (eds.), Miscellanea Indogermanica. Festschrift für José Luis García Ramón zum 65. Geburtstag. [Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft]. Insbruck. 779-785.
- (2016) The Perfect/Resultative in Tocharian. In: T. Maisak, V. A. Plungian, & K. Semenova (eds.), The Typology of the Perfect. Investigations into the Theory of Grammar. Issue VII. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana Vol. XII, part 2. St.-Petersburg: Nauka. 237-288. (open access)
- (2016) Nominative Case in Baltic in the Typological Perspective In: Argument Structure in Baltic, eds. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau [Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 3]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 137-198.
- (2016) External possession and constructions that may have it, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung STUF 69(1), 131-169. [In: Non-Central Usages of Datives. Guest-edited by Gabriele Diewald.
- (2016) Differential Argument Marking with the Latvian Debitive: a Multifactorial Analysis (together with Jana Taperte). In: Argument Structure in Baltic, eds. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau [Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 3]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 199-258.
- (2015) Dative experiencer constructions as a Circum-Baltic isogloss. In: P. Arkadiev, A. Holvoet, B. Wiemer (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Baltic Linguistics. De Gruyter. 325-348.
- (2015) Independent partitive as a Circum-Baltic isogloss, Journal Language Contact 8, 341-418.
- (2015) An Approach to Syntactic Reconstruction. In: Carlotta Vitti (ed.), Perspectives on historical syntax. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 117-154.
- (2015) Categorization and Semantics of Subject-like Obliques: a Cross-linguistic Perspective. In: Helasvuo, M. L. and T. Huumo (eds.), Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical. [Constructional Approaches to Language]. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 175-203.
- (2014) Quantification. In: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics. General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis. Brill Online, Reference. BRILL.
- (2014) The Independent Partitive Genitive in North Russian. In: Seržant, I. A. and B. Wiemer (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Dialectology: The area of North, Northwest Russian and Belarusian vernaculars, Slavica Bergensia 13. Bergen: John Grieg AS. 270-329.
- (2014) Björn Wiemer and Ilja A. Seržant, East Slavic Dialectology: Achievements and Perspectives of Areal Linguistics. In: Seržant, I. A. and B. Wiemer (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Dialectology: The area of North, Northwest Russian and Belarusian vernaculars. Slavica Bergensia 13. Bergen: John Grieg AS. 11-80.
- (2014) The Independent Partitive Gentive in Lithuanian. In: Holvoet, Axel and Nicole Nau (eds.), Grammatical Relations and their Non-Canonical Encoding in Baltic. [Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 1]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 257-299.
- (2014) Ilja A. Seržant and Valgerður Bjarnadóttir. Verbalization and non-canonical case marking of some irregular verbs in *-ē- in Baltic and Russian. In: Judžentis, Artūras, Tatyana Civjan and Maria Zavyalova (eds.), Baltai ir slavai: dvasinių kultūrų sankritos / Балты и славяне: пересечения духовных культур. Vilnius: Versmės. [Proceedings of the international conference, dedicated to the academian Vladimir Toporov, The Balts and Slavs: Intersections of Spiritual Cultures.] 218-242.
- (2014) Björn Wiemer, Ilja A. Seržant, Aksana Erker. Convergence in the Baltic-Slavic Сontact Zone. Triangulation approach. In: Congruence in Contact-Induced Language Change, ed. by Besters-Dilger, Juliane / Dermarkar, Cynthia / Pfänder, Stefan / Rabus, Achim. De Gruyter. 15-42.
- (2013) Rise of Canonical Subjecthood. In: Seržant, I. A. and L. Kulikov, The Diachrony of Non-canonical Subjects. SLCS 140. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 283-310.
- (2013) Rise of Canonical Objecthood by the Lithuanian Verbs of Pain, Baltic Linguistics 4, 187-211.
- (2013) The Diachronic Typology of Non-canonical Subjects. In: Seržant, I. A. and L. Kulikov, The Diachrony of Non-canonical Subjects. SLCS 140. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 313-360.
- (2012) Morphosyntactic properties of the partitive genitive in the subject position in Ancient Greek, Indogermanische Forschungen 117, 187-204
- (2012) The so-called possessive perfect in North Russian and the Circum-Baltic area. A diachronic and areal approach. Lingua 122, 356-385.
- (2012) Pragmatics and Semantics of the bare Partitive Genitive in Ancient Greek. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung STUF 65(2), 113-136.
- (2011) Die Entstehung der Kategorie Inagentiv im Tocharischen. In: T. Krisch, T. Lindner, M. Crombach, S. Niederreiter (eds.), Indogermanistik und Linguistik im Dialog. Akten der XIII. Fachtung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 21. bis 27. September 2008 in Salzburg: Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag. 527-537.
- (2010) Phonologische Isoglossen des Hochlettischen, Nord-Ost-Litauischen, Nord-West-Russischen und Weißrussischen, Baltic Linguistics 1, 193-214.
- (2009) Tempus und Aspekt im ältesten Russisch-Kirchenslavischen, untersucht an den Texten des Gottesdienstmenäums für Dezember“. In: Bibel, Liturgie und Frömmigkeit in der Slavia Byzantina. Festgabe für Hans Rothe zum 80. Geburtstag, herausgegeben von Dagmar Christians, Dieter Stern und Vittorio S. Tomelleri, München 2009, 309-328.
- (2008) Относительная хронология процессов палатализации прабалт. *k в латышском. Ареальная интерпретация, Voprosy Jazykoznanija 2008 (1), 121-129. (The relative chronology of the palatalization processes of Proto-Baltic *k in Latvian. Areal interpretation.)
- (2008) Die idg. Wurzeln *kelh1- „etw. bewegen“ und *kelh3- „sich erheben“, Indogermanische Forschungen 113, 59-75.
- (2007) Контакты древнерусского и латышского языков в области фонетики. IN: Ареальное и генетическое в структуре славянских языков. Материалы круглого стола. РАН Институт Славяноведения. (Eds.) V. V. Ivanov, P. M. Arkadjev. 2007. 90-101. (Language contacts between Old Russian and Latvian in the domain of phonetics)
- (2007) Die Bedeutung und Etymologie der tocharischen A Wurzel tsän-, Historische Sprachforschung 120 [2007], 105-114.
- (2006) Daži latviešu prosodiskās sistēmas aspekti, Baltu Filoloğija XV(1/2), 2006, 95-110. (Some aspects of the prosodic system of Latvian)
- (2006) Vermittlungsrolle des Hochlettischen bei den altrussischen und litauischen Entlehnungen im Lettischen, Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 55, 89-105.
- (2005) Относительная хронология основных фонетических изменений в истории верхнелатышского диалекта, Acta Linguistica Lithuanica, 53 [2005], 39-90. (The relative chronology of the main phonetic changes in the history of High Latvian dialect)
- (2005) Возражения к статье Росинаса „Dar dėl adesyvo kilmės aiškinimo“, Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 53 [2005], 101-6. (Objections to Rosinas’ article “On the development of the adessive case”)
- (2004) Einige Bemerkungen zur Geschichte des Illativs, Baltu Filoloğija XIII(1) [2004] 113-121.
- (2004) К вопросу об образовании адессива, Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 50 [2004], 49-57. (On the development of the adessive case)
- (2004) Zur Vorgeschichte des Inessivs im Urostbaltischen, Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 50 [2004], 59-67.
- (2003) Intonationen in den suffixalen und Endsilben im Lettischen. Synchronie und Diachronie, Baltu Filoloğija XII(1) [2003], 83-123.
Reviews
- (2013) Review: Вячᴇᴄлᴀʙ Вᴄ. Иʙᴀнов (отв. ред.), Пᴇᴛᴘ М. Аᴘкᴀдьᴇв (сост.), Исследования по типологии славянских, балтийских и балканских языков (преимущественно в свете языковых контактов).Санкт-Петербург: Алетейя, 2013. / Vʏᴀᴄʜᴇsʟᴀv Ivᴀɴov & Pᴇᴛᴇʀ Aʀᴋᴀᴅɪᴇv, eds., Studies in the Typology of Slavic, Baltic and Balkan Languages (with primary reference to language contact). St Petersburg: Aletheia, 2013. 368 pp.ɪsʙɴ 978-5-91419-778-7, Baltic Linguistics 4, 221-243.
- (2012) Review: D a n i e l P e t i t: Untersuchungen zu den baltischen Sprachen. Brill’s Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics. Vol. 4. Brill: Leiden, Boston. Historische Sprachforschung.
- (2008) Review: N. Ostrowski, N o r b e r t O s t r o w s k i. Studia z historii czasownika litewskiego. Iteratiwa. Denominatiwa. Historische Sprachforschung 121, 308-320.
Books
- (2014) Das Kausativ im Tocharischen, LINCOM Studies in Indo-European Linguistics 44, München: LINCOM
Editorial work
- (2013) Seržant, I. A. and L. Kulikov (eds.), The Diachronic Typology of Non-canonical Subjects. Studies in Language Companion Series 140. Amsterdam/Philadelphia. John Benjamins.
- (2014) Seržant, I. A. and B. Wiemer (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Dialectology: The area of North, Northwest Russian and Belarusian vernaculars. Bergen: John Grieg AS.
- (2018) Seržant, I. A. & A. Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Diachrony of differential argument marking. [Studies in Diversity Linguistics 19], Language Science Press.
- (2020) Rafiyenko, D. & I. Seržant (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Postclassical Greek. Trends in Linguistics series, 335. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.
- (2019) Eitan Grossman, Ilja Seržant & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Valency and transitivity in contact: theoretical and empirical issues. Journal of Language Contact 12(1). Special issue.
- (2019) Schmidtke-Bode, Karsten, Natalia Levshina, Susanne M. Michaelis & Ilja A. Seržant (eds.), Explanation in typology: Diachronic sources, functional motivations and the nature of the evidence. [Conceptual Foundations of Language]. Berlin: Language Science Press.