Dr. Benjamin L. Sluckin
Lecturer in English Linguistics
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Syntax.Variation.Change.Germanic.
I am a permanent Lecturer (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) in English Linguistics at the Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. I defended my PhD there in October 2021, where I was affiliated with the Leibniz Prize Research Unit for (Experimental) Syntax and Heritage Languages led by Prof. Artemis Alexiadou. From 2018 to 2026, I was a Wiss. Mitarbeiter (PostDoc) at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, in the chair of German historical linguistics.
Email: b.sluckin AT hu-berlin DOT de
Sprechstunde: Nach Vereinbarung
(Voranmeldung per Mail)
Büro: Institutsgebäude, Dorotheenstraße 28, Room 3.01F
ORCID: 0000-0003-1789-5501
10/2026: New position: From 01.10.2026, I am a Lecturer in English Linguistics at the Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik (Department of English and American Studies), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
07/2026: Published (with Eric Fuß): "(Not) Anything Goes: The syntax and diachrony of the German gehen-middle" in Journal of Historical Syntax 10(5), pp. 1–79 (2026). DOI: 10.18148/hs/2026.v10i5.292.
06/2026: Paper in revision (second round): "(Everyone) Everywhere All at Once: A relational account of quantified impersonal -where in English" – available on LingBuzz, currently in revision for a second round of review at Glossa.
2026: Resubmitted after revisions (with Itamar Kastner): "‘Everywhere here can say this’: The English locative impersonal" – available on LingBuzz, back under peer review at English Language and Linguistics.
03/2025: Published in Journal of Germanic Linguistics 37(1) in 2025 "Revisiting the syntax and development of Kiezdeutsch V3: a new perspective" Open Access
12/2024: Published in Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 6(1-2) "The covert perceiver in English Locative Inversion: an alternative to expletive pro", Open Access
12/2024: Published with Eric Fuß in Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 6(1-2) "The evolution of expletives", Open Access
Sluckin has a /u/ vowel – like “fluke” and not /ʌ/ as in “but”.
I pronounce the name Sluckin with an intervocalic /k/, hence [slu:kɪn]. This is because English and German speakers are generally unaware that ‘c’ is really the transliterated way of writing Slavic /ts/ in Latin-derived writing systems. My grandfather decided that a spelling change, or informing everyone that it’s /ts/, would be more trouble than it’s worth. So really the name should be ‘Slutzkin’ [slu:tskɪn], and any reader of Polish could tell you that! Indeed, in Cyrillic script the name is written „слуцкин“. Alas, it is still more trouble than it’s worth to make people say it “correctly”, so just get the vowel right and I’ll be happy.
