Schneider, Britta

I am a sociolinguist and linguistic anthropologist who studies language ideologies, that is, how people conceptualise languages, how languages and social boundaries are co-constructed, and how material practices, from speaking to writing and digital formats, contribute to meaning-making, linguistic conventions, and community formation. I have a particular interest in how languages come into being, especially in transnational, multilingual settings and in digital culture. In my recent work, I examine language ideologies in AI language models and how these models are reshaping language culture. At the University of Vienna, I plan to establish the Critical AI Language and Literacy Lab to study language models from a linguistic anthropological perspective and to connect researchers who explore which kinds of literacies and which educational formats can contribute to a democratic language culture in the age of AI.

I explore how linguistic difference shapes our social life, hierarchies, and cultural boundaries. My work shows how digital communication and AI influence our interactions, our ideas of „correct“ language, and, in turn, our social relationships. Understanding the social functions of language is increasingly important —especially in the age of AI— and provides insights for education, integration, digital media, cultural analysis, and public communication.
 

• Language Ideologies and the Discursive Construction of Language
• Multilingualism and Linguistic Diversity in Digital Society and AI Cultures
• Language, Materiality and Technology – Posthumanist Language Studies
• Language Contact and Entanglements in Anglophone Spaces
• Language in Transnational Settings – Music, Dance, Literature, Digital Space, Consumption
• Language and Public Space
• Language and Gender
   

• 2000-2004 M.A. studies, English Studies, Latin American Studies and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe University Frankfurt
• 2004 M.A. degree, Institute for English and American Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt
• 2005-2012 Research assistant at the Institute for English and American Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt
• November 2011/April 2012 Binational dissertation, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany and Macquarie University Sydney, Australia
• 2013 Lecturer for special tasks, Institute for English Studies, University of Siegen
• 2013-2014 Lecturer for special tasks at the Institute for English Philology, Free University of Berlin
• 2014-2018 Research assistant at the Institute for English Philology, Free University of Berlin
• 2020 Habilitation “Liquid Languages Post-national Acts of Identity and the Fluidity of Language Categories in Multilingual Belize” European University Viadrina, Faculty of Cultural Studies
• 2018-2022 Junior professorship for Language Use and Migration, Faculty of Cultural Studies, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
• 2022–2026 Professor of Language Use and Migration at the Faculty of Cultural Studies, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
• Since February 2026 Professorship in Applied Linguistics of Contemporary English, University of Vienna

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