Dr. Rik Vosters
Professor
Department of Art & philosophy
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Belgium
Biography
I hold a PhD in historical sociolinguistics, and currently teach as a tenure-track assistant professor in the department of Linguistics and Literary studies. My research interests center around the areas of historical sociolinguistics, language variation and change, corpus-based sociolinguistics, sociology of language, and language planning and policy, both from a contemporary and a historical perspective, and with a special interest in multilingual regions such as Brussels.
Research Interest
Historical sociolinguistics, language variation and change, corpus-based sociolinguistics, sociology of language, and language planning and policy.
Publications
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1. Vosters, R. (2016). “Mitos de decadencia lingüÃstica en la historia del neerlandés. Una exploración sociolingüÃstica de la lengua en Flandes en los siglos XVIII y XIX.†In: Feliu, F. & J.M. Nadal (red.), Constructing languages: Norms, myths and emotions, IVITRA Research in Linguistic and Literature 13, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 265-281. 2. Rutten, G. & R. Vosters (2016). “Prescriptivism between the devil and the deep blue sea: Competing language norms in the Southern Low Countries (1815−1830)â€. In: Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. & Percy, C. (red.), Prescription and Tradition in Language. Establishing standards across time and space, Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 137-151. 3.Peersman, C., Rutten, G., & Vosters, R. (eds.). (2015). Past, present and future of a language border. Germanic-Romance encounters in the Low Countries. Language and Social Life 1. Berlin / New York: De Gruyter Mouton. 329 pp. ISBN: 978-1-61451-583-8. 4.Vosters, R. & L. Villa (eds., 2015). The historical sociolinguistics of spelling. Special issue of Written Language & Literacy 18 (2). ISSN: 1387-6732. 131 pp. 5.Rutten, G., R. Vosters & W. Vandenbussche (red.) (2014), Norms and usage in language history, 1600-1900. A historical-sociolinguistic and comparative perspective. Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics 3. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 334 pp. ISBN: 978-90-272008-2-2.
