Education

2001 Ph.D. in Linguistics, Cornell University.
My doctoral dissertation titled Verner’s Law in Gothic focusses on questions regarding the outcome of Verner’s Law in Gothic which have been unresolved since the formulation of Verner’s Law in 1875, in particular the frequent absence of Verner’s Law in Gothic in comparison with the other Germanic languages. My advisor was Prof. Jay Jasanoff of Harvard University. Other committe members were Prof. Alan Nussbaum and Prof. Wayne Harbert of Cornell University.
1998 MA in Linguistics, Cornell University.
In my graduate studies at Cornell, I concentrated on Indo-European and Germanic historical linguistics with special emphasis on the early Germanic languages, Old Church Slavic, and Vedic Sanskrit.
1995 MA in Icelandic Linguistics, University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands).
In my graduate studies at the University of Iceland, I concentrated on Germanic historical linguistics and Icelandic linguistics and philology. My master’s thesis, “Language Contamination in Icelandic 17th-Century Copies of Old Icelandic Manuscripts“ (Málblöndun í sautjándu aldar uppskriftum íslenskra miðaldahandrita, published by the University of Iceland Institute of Linguistics in 1999) is a study in the linguistic development from Old Icelandic to Modern Icelandic as well as an examination of scribal practice in 17th-century Iceland and an evaluation of 17th-century saga manuscripts as a linguistic source. My advisor was Prof. Stefán Karlsson, director of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland.
1991 BA in Icelandic, University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands).
In my undergraduate work I focussed on Icelandic historical linguistics and received my initial training in Germanic and Indo-European linguistics. My thesis, “The Nominal Inflections in the Book of Reykjahólar“ (Beygingarkerfi nafnorða í Reykjahólabók), is a survey of the nominal inflections reflected in the language of the Book of Reykjahólar, an Icelandic 16th-century manuscript, with extensive comparison to other contemporary linguistic sources. My advisor was Prof. Helgi Guðmundsson.
1988 Graduated from Akureyri Junior College (Menntaskólinn á Akureyri).
At Akureyri Junior College, I majored in modern languages, Icelandic (native), English, German, French, and Danish, as well as Latin.