NL 
DE 
EN Der Name Ueberwasser
In der Schweiz gibt es fast 50 Personen, die den Namen Ueberwasser tragen (ja, mit »Ue« und nicht mit einem grossen »Ü«!). Der Name ist auffällig, in meinem Fall sogar noch mehr als bei andern Trägern des Namens, weil ich halt sehr viel Zeit unter Wasser verbringe. Es gibt sogar Leute, die ihn für ein Pseudonym halten. Nein, es ist wirklich mein Name. Doch was hat es damit auf sich auf sich?
Ganz genau wissen wir nicht, woher der Name kommt. Es spricht aber viel dafür, dass er Westfalen entstanden ist. Dort gab es früher eine Gemeinde Überwasser, die 1903 in die Stadt Münster eingemeindet wurde. Die namensgebende Überwasserkirche stand schon immer in Münster, und zwar auf der anderen Seite des Baches Aa, also über dem Wasser. Der August Bernhard Ferdinand Ueberwasser, der als erster in die Schweiz kam und von dem alle Ueberwassers in der Schweiz abstammen, wurde in Lemgo geboren, einer Stadt die 100km von Münster entfernt ist. Heute noch leben die meisten Überwasser (ja, in Deutschland mit »Ü«, aber nicht in der Schweiz!) in dieser Gegend bzw. etwas nördlich davon.
Doch woher kommt das »Ue«, von dem hier dauernd die Rede ist. Die Namensvettern in Deutschland schreiben sich doch wie gesagt mit »Ü«? Wir können nur raten. Tatsache ist aber, dass Schreibmaschinen mit Schweizer Layout kein grosses »Ü« kennen, weil bei uns an der Stelle das »è« steht. Im Computerzeitalter kann man das Problem mit der CapsLock Taste lösen. Aber der erwähnte erste Ueberwasser in der Schweiz kam anfangs 20. Jahrhundert in die Schweiz. Ich stelle mir vor, dass der Beamte den Namen im Pass anschaute, und weil er ihn nicht tippen konnte, hat er ihn kurzerhand umgeschrieben. Heute sind wir der Meinung, dass dies für uns die einzig richtige Schreibweise ist.
"Tell me what you google and I tell you who you are". That is more or less what the proverb says. Thus, you can get to know me by checking my interrests here. This part of the website also allows me to find back topics that I come across.
Diving
- TC Aquarius Zürich: "My" diving club in Zürich
- Circle Divers: "My" diving center in Sharm el Sheikh
- TSK Zürich: The diving center in Zürich where I teach (and shop)
- Visibility for Swiss diving sites
Music
My taste in classical music is slightly restricted: Baroque rules! And then some Mozart ...
- Abendmusik Basel: Every second Sunday per month, they offer early Barock in Basel, often from rather unknown composers but with more than excellen musicians.
- Bachkantaten in Vorarlberg: A long drive but really worth it.
- Capricornus Consort Basel: Excellent musicians, my style of music
- Barockorcherst Freiburg: I know them mainly from online radio stations, but once had the pleasure to hear them live. Wow!
- Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: No, this is not Baroque. But they have fantastic videos introducing instruments that you do not see every day. I found them because of their presentation of the Baroque Theorbo
Linguistics
- cmc corpora with a connection to Switzerland
- Cosmas: The corpus of the Institut für Deutsche Sprache
- DWDS: Digital dictionary of the German language
- Glottopedia: Linguistic online dictionary
- Chochichästli-Orakel: Recognize Swiss German dialects
- IPA Fonts: Good explanation about the use of IPA fonts and how to install them on your computer
- IPA Fonts in the browser: Lots of types in IPA and foreign languages for copy paste into your own document (in Word etc.)
- Ulrich Ammon(†): German linguist and a good friend
- sms4science: Our completed linguistic project
- What's up, Switzerland?: Our completed linguistic project
- Elisabeth Stark: Professor of French Linguistics
History
- Historic dictionary of Switzerland
- Rulers: rulers of this world, present, historical, political, religious
Maps
- Flash Earth: An alternative to Google maps: MS and Yahoo maps in one app
- Kartensammlung: Many maps, also historical ones
Books
- Secondhand books: Sell and buy (international).
- Secondhand books: Sell and buy (German)
Academic writing
- Academic Phrasebank: Excellent compilation of linguistic phrases
- Use of Google Docs for academic writing: Automated citations
- Linguistic dictionary: Collection of excellent links
I am a linguist and worked at the University of Zurich from 2009-2023. In the following list, you find my research interrests, my publications and presentations the list of corpora I worked on, my presentations and memberships.
Research interrests
- Variational linguistics
- Grammar
- Corpus linguistics
- CMC (Computer-mediated communication)
Publications
Monographs
Articles peer reviewed
Articles not peer reviewed
Miscellaneous
Corpora
Presentations
Memberships
Diving is my passion, diving is my life. Gliding weightlessly through the water, observing and photographing fish, being together with my buddies, learning new techniques - that's what I enjoy about diving. And diving always encourages me to get to know new countries and people.
How it all began
In 1991 I obtained my Open Water Certification at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. At the end of the nineties, when I lived in the Netherlands, I did a lot of diving. This was followed by a longer break. Since 2013 I have been diving again activly and more and more often. In 2021 for example, I did a total of 226 dives, most of them in lakes and rivers in Switzerland.
Diving requires confidence and trust
Diving is a matter of confidence and trust. You have to have confidence in yourself (not too much, though!) and also be able to rely on your buddy and the organization you are diving with unconditionally, thus, you have to choose your partners well. In Switzerland, the Tauchclub Aquarius, in Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab the Circle Divers have found my trust. In addition to these two regular diving events and locations, I also try to dive during other stays by the water, for example in September 2016, when I spontaneously completed a dive with a local guide during a linguistic conference in Slovenia.
A diver taking pictures, not a diving photographer
For a long time I refused to take pictures underwater. In my opinion, diving is not a sport, it is a lifestyle. And my diving style is relaxed and enjoying. Underwater photography always seemed too nervous to me, the dive was no longer primarily about diving, but about hunting motives for pictures. A few years ago I still got into it, first with a small GoPro, then with an Olympus TG-5 that I drowned and now with an Olympus TG-6. All cameras can be attached to the BCD and then you forget about it until you need it. It is still important for me to enjoy diving, taking pictures underwater will always stay in second place. If I do see something interesting, I pull on the line to get my camera and take a picture. The rest of the dive is still calm and not dominated by the camera. You find more pictures in the section diving on my picture site.
Passing on the passion
Since 2020 I have been a diving instructor and thus passing on my passion. I am an instructor for OWD to Divemaster, Deep, Dry Suit, NITROX, DSMB, Sidemount, Self-Reliant and Navigation. At TSK Zürich we have courses on all levels.
Welcome
Welcome
You could say that I am interested in everything involving technology, language(s) or water. Moreover, I often take pictures, above and below water. As a consequence, there are three topics to be found on this website: diving, language(s) and pictures.
Diving
Language(s)
Photos
If you are want to know more about the name Ueberwasser you will find an explanation in German here.