Name Maya Pencheva | Books What's in a Word | |
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Maya Pencheva (Bulgarian: Майя Стефанова Пенчева, pronounced [ˈmajɐ ˈpɛntʃɛvɐ]; born 3 May 1947) is a Bulgarian linguist best known for her work on English word formation, semantics and language typology.
Maya Pencheva, D.Litt., is Professor of English Linguistics at the Department of English and American Studies, St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.
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Degrees
Maya Pencheva received her master’s degree in English Studies from the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia in 1970. She defended her PhD thesis on English converted verbs in 1976, and in 1999 was awarded a higher doctorate (D.Litt.) for her dissertation on the category of animacy from a typological perspective.
Academic career
Maya Pencheva has taught on the faculty of the Department of English and American Studies, University of Sofia, since 1975 (lecturer 1975–1983; reader 1983–2001; professor since 2001). She has also taught courses or delivered lectures at UCLA, the University of Reading, the University of Helsinki, the University of Leeds, Durham University, King's College London (University of London), the University of Lisbon, the Catholic University of Portugal at Viseu, the Sorbonne (University of Paris IV), Université Blaise-Pascal at Clermont-Ferrand, the Free University of Berlin, and the University of Seoul.
Maya Pencheva has taught a number of courses, including Introduction to General Linguistics, Language Typology, Cognitive Linguistics, Semantics, History of English Vocabulary, Worldviews and Languages, English Word Formation, English Morphology, English Syntax.
On her 60th birthday, 3 May 2007, Maya Pencheva was awarded Sofia University's badge of honour, the Blue Ribbon.
Maya Pencheva has served on the Specialized Academic Board on Linguistics at the Higher Attestation Commission, the national body awarding doctoral degrees, since 1995, and has chaired the Specialized Academic Board on Classical and Modern Languages since 2007.
Administrative career
Maya Pencheva was Vice-Rector of the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia from 1999 to 2001, as well as Dean (1995–2003) and Vice-Dean (1985–1988, 1992–1994) of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Languages.
From 2007 to 2010 M. Pencheva was Head of the Department of English and American Studies, St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.