Agenda

16 Jan 2026 00:00

Prof. Steen Gerardus Johannes

DSLCC

Interview

Please provide a brief outline of your training and scientific activity.

I am Professor Emeritus (in Language and Communication) of the Faculty of Humanities at University of Amsterdam. I received my PhD from VU University Amsterdam in 1992, with a thesis in General Poetics (Metaphor in literary reception). I had positions at VU University, Utrecht University, and Tilburg University before turning full professor at VU University in 2007 (Language Use and Cognition) and moving on toe another full professorship at VU University Amsterdam in 2013 (Language and Communication). My last appointment was at University of Amsterdam, from which I am now an emeritus professor. Over the years I have been awarded visiting scholarships from the University of Cagliari (2015), Messina (2025), and now from the University of Venice (2026).

I have published numerous books, articles, and book chapters, mainly on metaphor, language use, and discourse. I founded the Pragglejaz Group, the Metaphor Lab, and ran many workshops and conferences on metaphor research while teaching metaphor identification and analysis in post-doc schools in many countries. My work on metaphor has originated a new theory of metaphor called Deliberate Metaphor Theory, which has inspired many researchers: see https://metaphorinaction.nl .

Please state your reasons for choosing Venice and the Department for your research and teaching stay.

I have personal connections with Venice and am looking forward a lot to spending some time here to do academic work together with the local researchers. I will be working with my good colleague Professoressa Santulli and her PhD students on the analysis of metaphor in language use and discourse at the Department of Linguistic and Comparative Cultural Studies.

Have you ever had a research collaboration with the teaching staff of Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies in the past?

I have not.

Organized by

Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati

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