Professor Rüdiger Harnisch

,As linguistic geographers we examine Communication Spaces in various gradations ranging from the specific to the highly abstract. We usually start from the physical borders, which are objectively measurable and are reflected in the linguistic synchronisation of the speakers of a language. At the same time, we try to look into the speakers’ heads, as it were, and examine the concepts of borders and spaces that they have. The collaboration with other disciplines puts us in a situation in which we can look beyond the boundaries of our discipline and discover who can enrich us with their science and perspective: Linguistics can bring to this a vast body of experience, and at the same time learn much from it.'