Bio

I have been at Tilburg University since the 1990's and am now a professor in the Department of Culture Studies. I work on multiculturalism, more specifically on how it affects people's communication habits and their language use. I teach about these topics in the BA and MA programs Online Culture and in the Research MA that Tilburg shares with Radboud University Nijmegen, on Language and Communication. I'm also one of the coordinators of that program. In my research I work together with PhD students and colleagues here and abroad, and I am currently the editor of an international journal on bilingualism.  My main scientific interest is in how to combine the many different academic disciplines that, often independently, contribute insights about multiculturalism, and how to translate that into my teaching.

Courses

Recent publications

  1. Investigating language transfer from a usage-based perspective

    Barking, M., Mos, M., & Backus, A. (2023). Investigating language transfer from a usage-based perspective. International Journal of Bilingualism. Advance online publication.
  2. Is ‘he’ still here? - Exploring the contemporary use of masculine sub…

    Piepers, J., Swanenberg, J., & Backus, A. (2023). Is ‘he’ still here? Exploring the contemporary use of masculine subject pronouns for women in Dutch dialects. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 40(1), 194-209.
  3. ‘It’ Is Not for Everyone. - Variation in Speakers’ Evaluation of Soci…

    Piepers, J., Backus, A., & Swanenberg, J. (2023). ‘It’ Is Not for Everyone. Variation in Speakers’ Evaluation of Sociopragmatic Pronouns in Limburgian. Languages, 8(4).
  4. Wealthy woman's total linguistic facts

    Van Hout, T., & Backus, A. (2023). Wealthy woman's total linguistic facts. Diggit Magazine. https://www.diggitmagazine.com/articles/total-linguistic-fact
  5. Comparing forward and reverse transfer from Dutch to German

    Barking, M., Mos, M., & Backus, A. (2022). Comparing forward and reverse transfer from Dutch to German. International Journal of Bilingualism, 26(4), 389-404.

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