Thomas Olander
Associate Professor - Promotion Programme
Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics
Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300 København S, 22 Bygning 22 (Afsnit 1), Building: 22-5-25
Denmark
Member of:
I do research in the Indo-European languages and their relationship. I have primarily been occupied with the Slavic languages and their relations to the Baltic languages, but I am interested in all branches of Indo-European. The aim of much of my research is to contribute to the reconstruction of the proto-language from which all Indo-European languages descend, a proto-language that we have learned a good deal about through comparison of the oldest stages of the attested Indo-European languages.
At present my main research focus is on the Indo-European family tree, i.e. the relationship between the Indo-European language branches (Anatolian, Tocharian, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Armenian, Albanian, Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic): are Germanic languages like Danish, German and English more closely related to Romance languages like Italian, Spanish and French, or to Slavic languages like Russian, Polish and Bulgarian?
This question is of importance for the Indo-European homeland problem, i.e. the question of where and when Proto-Indo-European was spoken, and how it diverged into the branches we know today (Anatolian, Tokharian, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Armenian, Albanian, Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic).
I am also interested in Danish phonology, morphology and syntax and in the historical grammar of Danish.
Primary fields of research
- comparative Indo-European linguistics
- reconstruction of the Indo-European proto-language
- the relationship between the Indo-European branches
- the Indo-European homeland
- historical grammar of Slavic
- historical grammar of Baltic and Balto-Slavic
- historical grammar of other Indo-European languages
Current research
I am the leader of the research project Connecting the Dots: Reconfiguring the Indo-European family tree (2019–2023), financed by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The purpose of the project is to examine the relationship between the Indo-European language branches, in particular the ramification after the separation of Anatolian and Tocharian. The project also examines to what extent the linguistic family tree can be correlated with the archaeological evidence.
I am also a core member of the research project LAMP: Languages and Myths of Prehistory (2020–2025), financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. The project is interdisciplinary and examines the relationship between languages, material culture and myths at prehistoric stages of the Indo-European languages.
Previously I was the leader of the cross-disciplinary research project The homeland: In the footprints of the early Indo-Europeans (2015–2018), financed by the Carlsberg Foundation. The project aims at establishing where and when the earliest stages of the Indo-European language branches where spoken, thus pinning down where and when the Indo-European proto-language was spoken.
In 2015 I published a monograph on the development of the inflexional system from Proto-Indo-European to Slavic (Proto-Slavic inflectional morphology).
Teaching
I teach various Indo-European disciplines, including the historical grammar of specific Indo-European languages and Indo-European morphology.
Within the field of Danish language I have taught Danish phonetics, morphology, syntax and historical grammar
I have also taught Bulgarian language.
Selected publications
- Published
The Indo-European language family: A phylogenetic perspective
Olander, Thomas (ed.), 2022, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 297 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › Research › peer-review
- Published
Introduction
Olander, Thomas, 2022, The Indo-European language family: A phylogenetic perspective. Olander, T. (ed.). Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, p. 1–17Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
- Published
Tracing the Indo-Europeans: New evidence from archaeology and historical linguistics
Rasmussen (Olsen), Birgit Anette (ed.), Olander, Thomas (ed.) & Kristiansen, K. (ed.), 2019, Oxford: Oxbow Books. 184 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › Research
- Published
The Indo-European homeland: Introducing the problem
Olander, Thomas, 2019, Tracing the Indo-Europeans: New evidence from archaeology and historical linguistics. Olsen, B. A., Olander, T. & Kristiansen, K. (eds.). Oxford: Oxbow Books, p. 7–34Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research
- Published
Proto-Slavic inflectional morphology : a comparative handbook
Olander, Thomas, 2015, Leiden / Boston: Brill. 439 p. (Brill's Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics, Vol. 14).Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
- Published
Balto-Slavic accentual mobility
Olander, Thomas, 2009, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs, Vol. 199).Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
- Published
Connecting the dots: The Indo-European family tree as a heuristic device
Olander, Thomas, 2018, Proceedings of the 29th UCLA Indo-European conference. Goldstein, D., Jamison, S. & Vine, B. (eds.). Bremen: Hempen Verlag, p. 181–202 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
- Published
Proto-Indo-European *-os in Slavic
Olander, Thomas, 2012, In: Russian Linguistics. 36, 3, p. 319-341 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Proto-Indo-European final nasals in Slavic
Olander, Thomas, 2010, In: Scando-Slavica. 56, 1, p. 84-98 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Etymology and the European Lexicon: Proceedings of the 14th Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, 17-22 September 2012, Copenhagen
Hansen, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard (ed.), Whitehead, Benedicte Nielsen (ed.), Olander, Thomas (ed.) & Rasmussen (Olsen), Birgit Anette (ed.), 2017, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. 540 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › Research › peer-review
- Published
Language and Prehistory of the Indo-European Peoples: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective
Hyllested, Adam (ed.), Whitehead, Benedicte Nielsen (ed.), Olander, Thomas (ed.) & Rasmussen (Olsen), Birgit Anette (ed.), 2017, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum. 343 p. (Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European, Vol. 7).Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
ID: 6593027
Most downloads
-
349
downloads
To *b or not to *b: Proto-Indo-European *b in a phylogenetic perspective
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Published -
34
downloads
The etymological substance of the Italian first- and second-person oblique clitic pronouns
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Published