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About

Gerlinde Mautner is an applied linguist pursuing research interests at the interface of language and business as well as language and the law. Her work also has a strong focus on methodological questions, specifically those that arise when combining discourse analysis with corpus linguistics.

Gerlinde received her first degree and doctorate in English from the University of Vienna, completed her Habilitation in 1997, and was appointed to a chair at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) in 2000. She has strong links with British academia. 

Throughout her career, she has spent extended research stays at British universities, including the University of Birmingham, Lancaster University, Cardiff University, and King’s College London. As a visiting professor, she was also affiliated with Cass Business School, Durham Business School and Nottingham Business School.

Gerlinde has always been actively involved in academic leadership and administration. Between 2008 and 2024, she served in different roles at the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, Austria’s largest research funding organisation); first as a member of the organisation’s board (Kuratorium) and then as the Vice-President for Humanities and Social Sciences. Gerlinde was also the WU's Vice-Rector for International Relations for four years (1998 – 2002) and served as Head of Department (Institutsvorstand) for ten (2005 – 2015).

Research Interests

On the basis of her background in English linguistics, Gerlinde pursues research interests located at the interface of language and society and, specifically, of language and business. Her work also focuses on methodological questions revolving around mixed methods research (combining, for example, critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics) and exploring the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary cooperation (for example, between Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Management Studies). Her publications in these areas include work discussing the influx of marketised language into a variety of lifeworlds, and a critique of the treatment of language in management textbooks. Recently, she has also turned to linguistic landscape research, and in particular the study of public signage. In this area, she is especially interested in the interrelationships between space and the law, and how they impact on discourse.

A full list of publications and research activities can be found in PURE.