de
Prof. Dr. Karin Luttermann
Phone +49 8421 93-21522 (secretary)
E-mail karin.luttermann@ku.de
Room: UA-227
Postal Address
Universitätsallee 1
85072 Eichstätt
Office hours
by appointment
"Greif nur hinein ins volle Menschenleben, wo du es packst, da ist`s interessant."

“Onward! Seize the fullness of human life - where you can grasp it, it is interesting.”

(Theodor Fontane, Unsere lyrische und epische Poesie seit 1848)

"Das Menschlichste, was wir haben, ist doch die Sprache."

“After all, language is the most human thing we have.”

(Theodor Fontane, Unwiederbringlich)

Presentations at the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and the Bavarian State Parliament (Landtag)

[Translate to English:] Luttermann Bundestag Vortrag

Presentation at the Bundestag: 20th Berlin Forum "Rechtskommunikation - Gesetzgebung und Sprachwissenschaft" (Legal Communication – Legislation and Linguistics) 10 September 2014.

 

[Translate to English:] Karin Luttermann an der LMU
© Bildarchiv Bayerischer Landtag, Foto Rolf Poss

Presentation at the LMU Munich, 06/06/2016, on the  70th Anniversary of the Bavarian Constitution. Colloquium "sprachgewaltig, anrührend, pathetisch, grundrechtsmächtig"  - “powerful in language, touching, impassioned, rooted in fundamental rights” – Key Symbolic Terms of the 1946 Constitution.

 

Research Interests

  • Legal Linguistics
  • Conversation, Discourse, and Text Linguistics
  • Applied Linguistics
  • Scientific and Professional Communication
  • Advertising Language
  • Communication of Trust
  • Multilingualism and Language Policy
  • Plain Language (“Easy-to-Read Language”)

Ongoing Research Projects

Positions and Memberships

  • Member, Graduate School of the Faculty of Language and Literature, University of Milan, Italy (Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze linguistiche e letterarie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano)
  • Scientific Advisor, Society for Applied Linguistics (GAL); Head of the Professional Communication Section
  • Scientific Advisor, Austrian Society for Legal Linguistics (ÖGRL)
  • Scientific Advisor, Center for Initiatives and Research on Migration, University of Brescia, Italy (Centro di Iniziative e Ricerche sulle Migrazioni – Brescia; CIRMiB)
  • Advisor, Editorial Staff Rechtssprache, Society for the German Language at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV), 2009–2012
  • Member, DIN Standards Committee for Terminology (NAT), German Institute for Standardization (DIN), Berlin
  • Member, Working Group on Refugees and Migration, KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
  • Member, Sustainability Steering Group, KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
  • Member, Research Network Language and Knowledge
  • Member, Tourism Working Group, Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology
  • Member, International Advisory Board, online journal Comparative Law and Language (CLL), University of Trento, Italy
  • Editor, book series Rechtslinguistik. Studien zu Text und Kommunikation, with Claire Kramsch and Claus Luttermann, Münster: Lit Verlag
  • Editor, book series Projekt Angewandte Linguistik, with Christina Gansel, Münster: Lit Verlag
  • Reviewer for linguistic academic journals
  • Examiner for the Bavarian State Teaching Examination and BA/MA programs at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

Selected Project Publications

[Translate to English:] RL 14
Luttermann, Karin & Jan Engberg (Hg., 2025): Digitalisierung und multimodale Ressourcen in diskursiven juristischen Prozessen. Berlin: LIT (Rechtslinguistik 14).

The focus of this volume is on digital and multimodal aspects of legal communication. The contributions, written in English, German, and French, are partly theoretical papers on language, law, and lawmaking in the digital present, partly empirical analyses of informative legal texts embedded in online – and therefore digital – media, allowing for taking advantage of multimodal textual means. The volume thus investigates the specific impact that the interaction of digitality as a medium and a societal condition, multimodal textual means, and the legal context has on creating legal meaning and the image of legal institutions in a broader sense. The topics are analysed contrastively in an inter- or intracultural context, or as individual case studies, providing profound insights into this complex field of research.

[Translate to English:] Luttermann: Legal specialists
Lombardi, Alessandra & Karin Luttermann: Legal specialists telling their stories on the internet: A comparative analysis of professional self-portrayals on German and Italian law firm websites. In: Anesa, Patrizia Anesa & Jan Engberg (Hrsg.), The digital (r)evolution of legal discourse. New genres, media, and linguistic practices. Berlin 2023, S. 53-66.

The contribution examines biographical presentation practices of lawyers on German and Italian law firm websites using a text-pragmatic and multimodal approach. In particular, it focuses on professional biographies as an emerging digital subgenre of self-presentation, compared to more traditional formats such as lawyers’ curricula vitae in boutique firms. The study investigates how lawyers promote their expertise and professional services online, and which strategies they use to engage potential clients. Additionally, the research explores the transmission of knowledge and professional values in their culture-specific dimension. The linguistic analyses identify three categories of personal presentation and highlight the influence of the medium on communication processes and target audience engagement.

 

[Translate to English:] Cover Luttermann Popularisierung 2023

Luttermann, Karin & Jan Engberg (Hg., 2023): Popularisierung als Methode der Wissensvermittlung in der Rechtslinguistik. Berlin: LIT (Rechtslinguistik 13).

The focus of Legal Linguistics (Rechtslinguistik) has shifted from lexical, syntactic and terminological issues to expert-lay communication. This volume focuses on popularisation as a method of knowledge mediation in the law. It deals with different forms of communication (e.g., explanatory videos, brochures, websites), addressees (e.g., children, adolescents, adults), topics (e.g., empathy, emotions, trust), settings (e.g., courts, law firms, EU institutions), and finally, specific areas of law (e.g., inheritance law, criminal law, environmental law). The contributions, written in German and English, discuss theoretical issues and apply them practically to the corpus. The book is stimulating for anyone wanting to delve more deeply into the topic of popularisation.

[Translate to English:] Humanitas Cover
Luttermann, Karin & Claus Luttermann (2022): Multilinguismo e un sistema di lingue di riferimento per l‘Unione Europea. In: Humanitas 77 (3), S. 482-497.

In the European Union, all EU legal texts are binding in all 24 official languages. This language regime presents the world’s largest existing translation service with ongoing challenges due to Europe’s multilingualism. Against this background, Luttermann/Luttermann proposed a reform in 2004—the “Model of Reference Languages”. This model has since been further developed in response to subsequent developments, including EU enlargement, Brexit, and digitalization. The reference language system focuses specifically on language itself and, given the interdependence of individual and institutional multilingualism, on linguistic recognition and cultural exchange among European citizens in terms of comprehensibility. Properly regulated, multilingualism can thus promote prosperity within a framework of the rule of law.

 

[Translate to English:] Rechtslinguistik Luttermann
Luttermann, Karin & Albert Busch (Hg., 2021): Sprache und Recht. Konstitutions- und Transferprozesse in nationaler und europäischer Dimension. Berlin: LIT (Rechtslinguistik 11).

This volume on the interdisciplinary field of legal linguistics presents a lively and ongoing discussion that began with the symposium Legal Linguistics on the 50th anniversary of the Society for Applied Linguistics (GAL) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The volume brings together scholars from various (sub-)disciplines and practitioners, highlighting developments in legal linguistics. Its main focus lies on the areas of law and constitution, law and forensics, and law and transfer. These topics are explored in fifteen individual contributions, including comparative perspectives beyond national contexts. The goal is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue at the interface of language and law, advance research perspectives, and broaden awareness of applied legal-linguistic approaches.

The publication in German can be found here.

[Translate to English:] Cover Sprachenrecht
Luttermann, Claus & Karin Luttermann (2020): Sprachenrecht für die Europäische Union. Wohlstand, Referenzsprachensystem und Rechtslinguistik. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.

How Do We Shape Europe’s Unity in Diversity? - The European Union is a legal community of 450 million people, established under European law as part of the internal market. The Union depends on language and translation across 24 official and treaty languages, all regarded as equally authentic. At the same time, this multilingualism can create legal disparities between member states. Working across disciplines, Claus and Karin Luttermann develop legal linguistics and a reference language system supporting a clear, subsidiarily organized European law along with European identity, economic strength, and peace.

Rezension: "The book is therefore a refreshing read, clearly designed to propagate a specific solution based upon a multifaceted globalized insight into the situation at hand, securely grounded upon research. [...] By way of conclusion, the book is an interesting and stimulating read with a sound basis in relevant examples and research. [...] I can recommend the book to everyone with an interest in this complicated matter and the ongoing discussions in the field." - Jan Engberg, International Journal of Legal Discourse 6 (1). 2021, pp. 135-140.

[Translate to English:] Titel Nachhaltigkeit
Gansel, Christina & Karin Luttermann (Hg., 2020): Nachhaltigkeit - Konzept, Kommunikation, Textsorten. Reihe Projekt Angewandte Linguistik (PAL) 1. Berlin: LIT.

With the 1992 World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, sustainability became a guiding principle for societies wordwide and is linguistically embedded in our social communication. Acting sustainably is a goal of society in politics, business, tourism, advertising, law, administration, and religion. The contributions in this volume examine, from a linguistic perspective, how the high frequency of the term sustainability in use affects the way the idea is linguistically articulated and shaped, whether and how a discursive space for ecological risks and social challenges has emerged in public communication, and in which text types the concept of sustainability takes on specific forms.

The publication in German can be found here.

[Translate to English:] Cover Werbung für alle Sinne
Wahl, Sabine, Elke Ronneberger-Sibold & Karin Luttermann (Hg., 2020): Werbung für alle Sinne. Multimodale Kommunikationsstrategien. Wiesbaden: Springer.

Advertising engages recipients with all their senses: visually through images and text; acoustically through spoken and sung language, music, and sounds; haptically, for example via packaging; olfactorily through scents; and gustatorily through samples. This interdisciplinary volume, based on contributions to the 2013 EUKO Annual Conference in Eichstätt, examines from both theoretical and practical perspectives the possibilities and limitations of multimodal and multisensory communication strategies for goods and services across different media.

[Translate to English:] Cover Mehrsprachigkeit
Luttermann, Karin, Kerstin Kazzazi & Claus Luttermann (Hg., 2019): Institutionelle und individuelle Mehrsprachigkeit. Reihe Rechtslinguistik. Bd. 10. Berlin: LIT.

By drawing connections, highlighting dependencies and emphasizing common perspectives, this book brings together institutional and individual types of multilingualism that have previously been treated from largely separate perspectives. The starting point is the different conceptualization of the experienced world in everyday life, school, work, and science through different languages in national, European, and international contexts. The contributions in German and English examine the existing relationships between the types of multilingualism from different angles and at different levels. They invite dialogue about the meaning and function of languages for institutions and for the individual.

[Translate to English:] Popularization and Knowledge Mediation in the Law
Engberg, Jan, Karin Luttermann, Silvia Cacchiani & Chiara Preite (Hg., 2018): Popularization and Knowledge Mediation in the Law. Popularisierung und Wissensvermittlung im Recht. Reihe Rechtslinguistik. Bd. 9. Wien: LIT.

This volume widens the scope of Legal Linguistics from the traditional focus on performative texts like statutes to the popularization of legal knowledge for different purposes. The chapters, written in English, German or French, discuss the theoretical basis and methods and investigate popularization efforts by national institutions, law firms and community websites. The objects of study cover a variety of modes and media from different national contexts reaching from print folders over online written texts to YouTube videos and movies.

Publications in Preparation

  • Karin Luttermann & Jan Engberg: Verständlichkeit und Vertrauen durch Popularisierung am Beispiel des Erbrechts. In: Schäfer, Pavla & Milena Beloševič (Hrsg.): Sprache und Vertrauen. Facetten der linguistischen und interdisziplinären Vertrauensforschung. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter [Sprache und Wissen].
  • Busch, Albert & Karin Luttermann (eds.): Professionskommunikation. Hildesheim: Universitätsverlag. [Fach - Sprache - Kommunikation].
  • Luttermann, Karin: Personalwerbung in Stellenanzeigen - ein textpragmatischer Zugang. In: Busch, Albert & Karin Luttermann (eds), Professionskommunikation. Hildesheim: Universitätsverlag. [Fach - Sprache - Kommunikation].
  • Karin Luttermann & Jan Engberg (eds.): Digitalisierung und multimodale Ressourcen in diskursiven juristischen Prozessen / Digitalisation and Multimodal Resources in Discursive Legal Processes. Berlin: LIT [Rechtslinguistik].
  • Karin Luttermann & Jan Engberg: "Justiz verstehen!" - Kulturkontrastive Analysen von Rechtskommunikation auf ministeriellen Webseiten in Deutschland und Dänemark. In: Karin Luttermann & Jan Engberg (eds.): Digitalisierung und multimodale Ressourcen in diskursiven juristischen Prozessen / Digitalisation and Multimodal Resources in Discursive Legal Processes. Berlin: LIT [Rechtslinguistik].
  • Karin Luttermann & Alessandra Lombardi: Anwälte adressieren Klienten. Eine vergleichende Analyse von Berufsbiographien auf deutschen und italienischen Kanzlei-Webseiten. In: Karin Luttermann & Jan Engberg (eds.): Digitalisierung und multimodale Ressourcen in diskursiven juristischen Prozessen / Digitalisation and Multimodal Resources in Discursive Legal Processes. Berlin: LIT [Rechtslinguistik]. 

Recent Conferences

2025:

4. Media and Multimodal Texts Communicating Legal Knowledge (3.-5. September 2025)
Coordinator: Jan Engberg (Aarhus University), Karin Luttermann (Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

In this thematic area, focus will be on communication on law in different media, especially in the field of dissemination / instruction and popularisation, with an interest in multimodal interaction between the verbal and other modes (or without recourse to the verbal mode).

This means that the communicative objects of study spans from forms of edutainment (like documentaries and true crime shows and podcasts) over didactic material at different educational levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary school systems) to types of communication underlying citizen-science projects in the field of law. However, more discipline-internal communicative objects like statutes, ordinances, and argumentative texts from a court context may also be interesting for this thematic area.

The central characteristic for contributions is that the study interest should be in the interaction between at least two modes. In the thematic area, we take a broad view on multimodality, focusing upon the idea of multimodal studies as studies of the social-semiotic construction of meaning through the interaction between different modes, e.g., between written and spoken word, between spoken words and gestures, between spoken words and visual illustrations, or between written words and visual elements, to name a few examples.

Details and Abstract Submission: https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/ILLA_2025/

2024:
  • AALL24: Controversies in Legal Linguistics – ÖGRL – Österreichische Gesellschaft für Rechtslinguistik (oegrl.com) am 12.-13. Dezember 2024 an der Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität Wien. Link zur Tagungswebsite.
  • GAL 2024: An der Technischen Universität Dresden findet vom 11. bis 13. September 2024 die Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Angewandte Linguistik (GAL) statt. Das Einladungsheft kann hier heruntergeladen werden. Die Einreichung von Abstracts für die Sektion Fachkommunikation zum Thema "Digitale Werbekommunikation" ist bis zum 15.05.2024 über das Conftool möglich, weitere Informationen dazu finden Sie hier. Die Auswahl der Beiträge erfolgt bis zum 15.06.2024. Weitere Informationen zur GAL-Jahrestagung finden Sie hier.
  • AELFE 2024: Panel on Researching and teaching legal communication, at the forthcoming AELFE 2024 Conference at the Semmelweis University, Budapest, on 6 and 7 September: Please send your abstract (1500-1700 characters, English or German ) as a Word document to the Panel organisers, Ruth Breeze and Magdalena Szczyrbak, with "Legal communication AELFE 2024" in the "subject" of the email.
  • AALL: Call for Submissions for the forthcoming interdisciplinary volume titled The Future of Teaching Law and Language published by Frank & Timme. Please send your abstract (200-250 words, English) to legallinguistics2024(at)gmail.com and daniel.green(at)wu.ac.at by 25 July 2024. See further information here.
2023:
2022:
  • GAL-Sektionsleitung Fachkommunikation multimodal und transdisziplinär, 09/2022, Universität Würzburg
2021:
  • GAL-Sektionsleitung Fact – Fake – Fachkommunikation, 09/2021, Universität Würzburg
  • Sprache und Wissen-Workshopleitung Sprache und Vertrauen im Recht, 09/2021, Universität Heidelberg
  • AELFE-Panelleitung Multilingualism in EU Institutions and EU Law, 07/2021, Universität Barcelona/Spanien

Selected Presentations

2024:
  • The concept of Klare Sprache (clear language): theoretical and practical issues, Universität Mailand/Italien (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano)
  • Recht in Klarer Sprache - Linguistische Pragmatik für eine verständliche Rechtskommunikation, NLK-Workshop 03/2024: Von der Theorie zur Praxis: Linguistik und ihre Relevanz für die Gesellschaft, Universität Hannover
2023:
  • How much Information, how much Entertainment? A Case Study of the Legal Infotainment Show “Auf den Spuren der Ku’damm-Raser”, ILLA-Tagung 09/2023: Law, Media and Communication of Legal Knowledge, Universität Krakau/Polen
  • Knowledge Asymmetries in Blog Communication, Workshop 09/2023: Language as a Social Practice: Constructing (A)symmetries in Legal Discourse, Universität Bonn
  • Museumskommunikation in Klarer Sprache – Grundlagen und Perspektiven, GeSuS-Tagung 06/2023: Museumskommunikation im Sprach- und Kulturvergleich, Universität Paris-Est-Créteil/Frankreich
2022:
  • Berufsbiographien auf deutschen und italienischen Kanzlei-Webseiten im rechtslinguistischen Vergleich, ÖGRL/ILLWS-Tagung 12/2022: Legal Linguistics around the Globe, University of the Western Cape/South Africa
  • Die Digitalisierung juristischer Fachkommunikation: Eine vergleichende Analyse von Berufsbiographien auf deutschen und italienischen Kanzlei-Webseiten, GAL-Tagung 09/2022: Fachkommunikation multimodal und transdisziplinär, Universität Würzburg
2021:
  • Specialists Telling their Stories on the Web, ILLA-Konferenz 12/2021: Digital Genres, Media and Analytical Tools, Universität Bergamo/Italien
  • Institutionelle Mehrsprachigkeit in der Europäischen Union – eine rechtslinguistische Perspektive mit dem Europäischen Referenzsprachensystem, hss-Workshop 10/2021: Die EU nach dem Brexit – Zeit für eine Sprachenrechtsreform?, Bildungszentrum Kloster Banz
  • Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation in Verwaltung und Recht – ein textlinguistischer Zugang, GAL-Tagung 09/2021: Fact – Fake – Fachkommunikation, Universität Würzburg
  • Multilingualism in Law, AELFE-Tagung 07/2021: Multilingualism in EU Institutions and EU Law, Universität Barcelona/Spanien
  • Clear Language – Legal Linguistics as a Discipline for Comprehensible Communication in Law, Forschungsseminar 01/2021, Universität Aarhus/Dänemark

Publications

The following list of publications has been imported from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt’s research database (KU.edoc) and is automatically updated; for this reason, the entries are displayed in German only.

Artikel

Buch

Aufsatz in einem Buch

Rezension

Hochschulschrift

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