was born in 1942. After studying in Frankfurt, Tübingen, and Paris, he taught in Bari, Rome, Tübingen, Hamburg, and Berlin between 1969-1980. From 1980-2008, he was Professor of Romance Linguistics at the Free University of Berlin, and from 2008-2013, Professor of European Multilingualism at Jacobs University Bremen. From 2010-2017, he was a member of the research groups “Bildakt und Verkörperung” and “Symbolische Artikulation” at Humboldt University Berlin. His most recent publications are Sprachdämmerung. Eine Verteidigung (2020) and Wilhelm von Humboldt. Menschen Sprachen Politik (2021).