Closure of Phonetics and Computational Linguistics (05.02.2010)

Dear Colleagues,

Last August we notified the language and speech community about the intention of The University of Bonn to close down the division of Language and Speech, formerly known as the "Institut für Kommunikationsforschung und Phonetik". The division comprises the programs in Phonetics, Computational Linguistics and Theoretical Linguistics.

We wish to thank the scientific community for the support and solidarity we have received and for the large number of letters and email messages sent to the university administration. Your efforts have been greatly appreciated.

In the end, the Faculty of Humanities, the dean's office and the rector's office of the University of Bonn did indeed decide to close the division of Language and Speech. We have been assured that this decision is not based on the academic performance of our division but brought about by a combination of financial and legal issues and a re-orientation of the Faculty in the area of linguistics, which left no room for a program in phonetics, computational linguistics, and formal linguistics.

The courses of study will continue until all students currently enrolled in our programs have graduated but no new students will be admitted. The members of faculty of our division have been asked by the dean's office to stay on during the termination period, which is expected to be approximately four years. Realistically, though, members of our group will soon start exploring other opportunities.

For further information on the division of Language and Speech please see http://www.sk.uni-bonn.de/.

With our best regards,

Denis Arnold, Berthold Crysmann, Christine de Bond, Mats Exter, Wolfgang Hess, Winfried Lenders, Bernd Möbius, Donata Moers, Barbara Samlowski, Christopher Sappok, Ulrich Schade, Charlotte Wollermann, Lukasz Wolski