Michelle Waldispühl

Professor - Tysk og germansk

Norwegian version of this page

Email michelle.waldispuhl@ilos.uio.no

Phone +47 22856903

Username

Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 Niels Treschows hus 0851 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1003 Blindern 0315 Oslo

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Academic interests

Historical sociolinguistics
Multilingualism and language contact
Grapholinguistics
History of the Germanic languages
Deutsch als Fremdsprache, second/foreign language acquisition
Onomastics
Runology
Historical cryptology

Projects

DECRYPT: Decryption of historical manuscripts (2018–2024, co-PI, PI: Beáta Megyesi, funded by the Swedish Research Council, grant-number 2018-06074)
Variation and contact in historical personal names (PI, 2019-2023, funded by the Swedish Research Council, grant-number 2018-01556)
History, Identity, and Linguistic Diversity (HILD), connected research community (2022-)
Promoting Learner Autonomy in Higher Education, 2012-2014, PI, University of Teacher Education Zug in collaboration with SEEU Tetovo, North Macedonia, project funded by the foundation éducation 21, Education for Sustainable Development
Techniken und Praktiken mittelalterlicher kontinentalgermanischer Schriftlichkeit, 2005-2011, PI: Prof. Dr. Elvira Glaser and Prof. Dr. Ludwig Rübekeil, NCCR Mediality, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, University of Zurich
Sprachland. Lehrmittel für die Mittelstufe, 2007–2009, PI: Elsbeth Büchel and Ursina Gloor, University of Teacher Education Zurich

Courses taught

TYSK3010 – Bacheloroppgave i tysk

I have taught university courses at undergraduate, Master’s and PhD level (subjects: German, Scandinavian and English linguistics, medieval studies, language learning and teaching, cultural studies) and also have experience as a primary school teacher.

Background

Professor, German linguistics, University of Oslo, since 2024
Senior lecturer/associate professor of German linguistics and language acquisition at the University of Gothenburg, 2015–2023
Earlier employed as a lecturer and researcher of German linguistics and language learning and teaching at the universities of Zurich and Bern and the universities of teacher education in Zug and Zurich (Switzerland)

PhD in German linguistics, University of Zurich (2013); Habilitation in German linguistics and language acquisition, University of Gothenburg (2019); Diploma in Primary Education, teacher-training college Luzern (2000).

Waldispühl, M. & Kopal, N. 2024. Decipherment of a German encrypted letter sent from Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben to Axel Oxenstierna in 1637. In M. Waldispühl & B. Megyesi (eds.). Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024, 249–253. Tartu: D-Space Tartu University Library.
Megyesi, B., Láng, B., Kopal, N., Mikhalev, V., Tudor, C. & Waldispühl, M. 2024. A Typology for Cipher Key Instructions in Early Modern Times. In M. Waldispühl & B. Megyesi (eds.). Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024, 183–193. Tartu: D-Space Tartu University Library.
Waldispühl, M. & Megyesi, B. (eds.). Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024, 249–253. Tartu: D-Space Tartu University Library.
Megyesi, B., Fornés, A., Láng, B., Waldispühl, M., Esslinger, B., Mikhalev, V. & Kopal, N. 2024. Historical Cryptology. In B. Esslinger (ed.). The CrypTool Book: Cryptography with CrypTool and Sagemath. Boston, London: Artech House.
Megyesi, B., Fornés, A., Láng, B., Waldispühl, M., Esslinger, B., Mikhalev, V. & Kopal, N. 2024. Historische Kryptologie. In B. Esslinger (ed.). Das CrypTool Buch: Kryptographie mit CrypTool und Sagemath. Boston, London: Artech House.
Waldispühl, M. 2023. Variation and change. In M. Condorelli & H. Rutkowska (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography, 245–264. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Waldispühl, M. 2023. Die Verbreitung christlicher Rufnamen im mittelalterlichen Norden im Licht der Reichenauer Überlieferung. In M. Marti & L. Thöny (eds.). Swe gameliþ ist. Studien zur vergleichenden germanischen Sprachwissenschaft, 83–101. Heidelberg: Winter Verlag.
Waldispühl, M. & Wallis, C. 2023. Personal names in medieval libri vitæ as a sociolinguistic resource. Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 9(1), 129-161.
Megyesi, M., Sikora, J., Fornmark, F., Waldispühl, M., Kopal, N. & Mikhalev,V. 2023. Historical language models in cryptanalysis: Case studies on English and German. In C. Dahlke & A. Wacker (eds.). Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2023, 120–129. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press.
Mikhalev, V., Esslinger, B., Kopal, N., Waldispühl, M., Láng, B. & Megyesi, B. 2023. What is the code for the code? Historical cryptology terminology. In C. Dahlke & A. Wacker (eds.). Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2023, 130–138. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press.
Megyesi, B., Tudor, C., de Leeuw, K., Kopal, N., Láng, B., Lehofer, A. & Waldispühl, M. 2022. Keys with nomenclatures in Early Modern Europe. Cryptologia.
Megyesi, B., Tudor, C., Kopal, N., Láng, B., Lehofer, A. & Waldispühl, M. 2022. What was encoded in historical cipher keys in the Early Modern Era? In C. Dahlke, & B. Megyesi (eds.). Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2022, 159–167. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press.
Souibgui, M., Bensalah, A., Chen, Jialuo, Fornés, A. & Waldispühl, M. 2022. A user perspective on HTR methods for the automatic transcription of rare scripts. The case of Codex Runicus. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 15(4), 1–18.
Kopal, N. & Waldispühl, M. 2022. Deciphering three diplomatic letters sent by Maximilian II in 1575. Cryptologia 46(2), 103–127.
NordiCon. Database of medieval Nordic personal names in Continental sources. Released November 2022. Developed by Michelle Waldispühl, Dana Dannélls, Jonatan Uppström and Lars Borin. Karp 5. Språkbanken Text (SWE-CLARIN).
Kopal, N. & Waldispühl, M. 2021. Two encrypted diplomatic letters sent by Jan Chodkiewicz to Emperor Maximilian II in 1574-1575. In C. Dahlke (ed.). Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2021, 80–89. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press.
Waldispühl, M., Dannélls D. & Borin L. 2020. Material philology meets digital onomastic lexicography: The NordiCon database of medieval Nordic personal names in Continental sources. In Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, 860–867. Marseille: European Language Resources Association.
Megyesi, B., Esslinger, B., Fornés, A., Kopal, N., Láng, B., Lasry, G., de Leeuw, K., Pettersson, E., Wacker, A. & Waldispühl, M. 2020. Decryption of historical manuscripts: The DECRYPT Project. Cryptologia 44(6), 545–559.
Waldispühl, M. 2020. Roman and runic in the Anglo-Saxon inscriptions at Monte Sant’Angelo: A sociolinguistic approach. Futhark. International Journal of Runic Studies 9–10, 135–158.
Waldispühl, M. 2020. Historische Rufnamen im Kontakt. Integration der altisländischen Pilgernamen auf der Reichenau in die mittelhochdeutsche Schreibsprache. In L. Kempf, D. Nübling & M. Schmuck (eds.). Linguistik der Eigennamen. (Linguistik – Impulse & Tendenzen 88), 21–42. Berlin/München/Boston: de Gruyter.
Löfdahl, M., Waldispühl, M. & Wenner, L. (eds.). 2020. Names in Writing. Namn i skrift. Göteborg: Meijerbergs institut.
Waldispühl, M. 2020. Review of Epigraphy in an Intermedial Context. Eds. Alessia Bauer, Elise Kleivane, and Terje Spurkland. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2018. 216 pp. ISBN 978-1-84682-716-7. Futhark. International Journal of Runic Studies 9–10, 275–286.
Waldispühl, M. 2019. Die Liste als Ordnungsmedium in mittelalterlichen Libri vitae. Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 49(2), 197–218.
Waldispühl, M. 2019. Alemannische Wortbildung zwischen Sprech- und Schreibsprache. Richtungsadverbien in Konrad Klausers ‘Sylvula formularum quotidiani sermonis’ (1562). In A. Nievergelt & L. Rübekeil (eds.). ‚athe in palice, athe in anderu sumeuuelicheru stedi‘. Raum und Sprache, 279–296. Heidelberg: Winter.
Waldispühl, M. 2018. ‚Nordgermanisch’ oder ‚deutsch’? Überlegungen zur sprachlichen Bestimmung von Namen im Reichenauer Verbrüderungsbuch vor dem Hintergrund von Sprachkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit. In C. Hoffarth & B. Scheller (eds.), Ambiguität und die Ordnungen des Sozialen im Mittelalter. (Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung. Beihefte), 129–150. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter.
Waldispühl, M. 2017. Flerspråkiga pilgrimer? En kontaktonomastisk pilotstudie av de nordiska namnen från Reichenau. In T. Schmidt & I. Særheim (eds.), Namn som kjelder. (NORNA-rapporter 92), 261–276.
Waldispühl, M. 2016. Schrift im Gespräch. Medientheoretische Überlegungen zur historischen Schriftinterpretation. In P. Cotticelli-Kurras & A. Rizza (eds.), Variation within and among writing systems. Concepts and methods in the analysis of ancient written documents, 333–352. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Waldispühl, M. 2015. Sprachförderung von Lehramtsstudierenden mit Deutsch als Zweitsprache – Fallbeispiel Pädagogische Hochschule Zug, Schweiz. In B. Xhaferri, M. Waldispühl, B. Eriksson-Hotz & G. Xhaferri (eds.), Promoting Learner Autonomy in Higher Education, 263–281. Tetovo: SEEU.
Waldispühl, M., Xhaferri, B. & Xhaferri, G. 2015. Students’ and teachers’ beliefs about Learner Autonomy at SEEU Tetovo, Macedonia and PH Zug, Switzerland: A comparative study. In B. Xhaferri, M. Waldispühl, B. Eriksson-Hotz & G. Xhaferri (eds.), Promoting Learner Autonomy in Higher Education, 9–38. Tetovo: SEEU.
Xhaferri, B., Waldispühl, M., Eriksson-Hotz, B. & Xhaferri, G. (eds.). 2015. Promoting Learner Autonomy in Higher Education. Tetovo: SEEU.
Waldispühl, M. 2014. Runes in Action – Two South Germanic inscriptions and the notion of a “literate” epigraphic culture. Futhark. International Journal of Runic Studies, 5, 65–90.
Friedli, M. & Waldispühl, M. 2014. Dialektologie als Unterrichtsgegenstand auf Sekundarstufe II. In Deutschblätter 2014. Verein Schweizerischer Deutschlehrerinnen und Deutschlehrer, 21–33.
Waldispühl, M. 2013. Schreibpraktiken und Schriftwissen in südgermanischen Runeninschriften. Zur Funktionalität epigraphischer Schriftverwendung. Zürich: Chronos.
Graf, M. & Waldispühl, M. 2013. Neues zu den Runeninschriften von Eichstetten, Neudingen-Baar II, Schwangau und Steindorf. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, 70, 41–63.
Juska-Bacher, B., Ritzau, U., Scherer, J. & Waldispühl, M. (eds.). 2013. Methoden der Linguistik im Fokus: Eine Auswahl projektbasierter Beispiele. Spotlight on Methods in Linguistics: A Collection of Project-Based Examples. Linguistik online 61, 4/2013.
Glaser, E., Seiler, A. & Waldispühl, M. (eds.). 2011. LautSchriftSprache. Beiträge zur vergleichenden historischen Graphematik. Chronos: Zürich.
Waldispühl, M. 2011. Methodische Überlegungen zur Rekonstruktion der Schriftverwendung bei den südgermanischen Runeninschriften. In E. Glaser, A. Seiler & M. Waldispühl (eds.), LautSchriftSprache. Beiträge zur vergleichenden historischen Graphematik, 31–46. Zürich: Chronos.
Büchel, E., Gloor, U., Waldispühl, M. et al. 2010. Sprachland. Sprachlehrmittel für die Mittelstufe. Zürich: Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich.

Popular science publications

Kopal, N. & Waldispühl, M. 2022. Kryptische Propaganda. c’t Magazin für Computertechnik 4/2022, 130–137.
Waldispühl, M. 2019. Att stava ord – förr och nu. In J. Nilsson, S. Nylund Skog & F. Slott (eds.). Sånt vi bara gör, 135–137. Stockholm: Carlssons.
Morgan-Grap, C., Schöller, B., Waldispühl, M. 2013. Stadtwandelung. Web-Application (Audio tour). NCCR Mediality, Section Public Relations, University of Zurich. www.stadtwandelung.ch.
Waldispühl, M. 2011. Namen in Runen. In C. Kiening & B. Naumann. Lieblingsstücke. Germanistik in Zürich. 125 Jahre Deutsches Seminar, 212–213. Zürich: vdf Hochschulverlag.
Waldispühl, M. 2008. Lexikalische Texterschliessung. In Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Nationalen Forschungsschwerpunkt “Medienwandel – Medienwechsel – Medienwissen. Historische Perspektiven” und dem Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen. Geheimnisse auf Pergament: Katalog zur Jahresausstellung in der Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen (3. Dezember 2007 – 9. November 2008), 48–49.
Waldispühl, M. 2008. Randbemerkungen zu Priscian. In: Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Nationalen Forschungsschwerpunkt “Medienwandel – Medienwechsel – Medienwissen. Historische Perspektiven” und dem Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen. Geheimnisse auf Pergament: Katalog zur Jahresausstellung in der Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen (3. Dezember 2007 – 9. November 2008), 51–53.
Waldispühl, M. 2008. Isruna-Traktat. In: Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Nationalen Forschungsschwerpunkt “Medienwandel – Medienwechsel – Medienwissen. Historische Perspektiven” und dem Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen. Geheimnisse auf Pergament: Katalog zur Jahresausstellung in der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen (3. Dezember 2007 – 9. November 2008), 56–59.

Megyesi, Beáta; Láng, Benedek; Kopal, Nils; Mikhalev, Vasily; Tudor, Crina & Waldispühl, Michelle (2024). A Typology for Cipher Key Instructions in Early Modern Times. In Waldispühl, Michelle & Megyesi, Beáta (Ed.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024. D-Space at Tartu University Library. ISSN 978-99-1683-384-1. p. 183–193. doi: 10.58009/aere-perennius0107. Show summary
We present an empirical study on instructions found in historical cipher keys dating back to early modern times in Europe. The study reveals that instructions in historical cipher keys are prevalent, covering a wide range of themes related to the practical application of ciphers. These include general information about the structure or usage of the cipher key, as well as specific instructions on their application. Being a hitherto neglected genre, these texts provide insight into the practice of cryptographic operations.
Waldispühl, Michelle & Kopal, Nils (2024). Decipherment of a German encrypted letter sent from Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben to Axel Oxenstierna in 1637. In Waldispühl, Michelle & Megyesi, Beáta (Ed.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024. D-Space at Tartu University Library. ISSN 978-99-1683-384-1. p. 249–253. doi: 10.58009/aere-perennius0116. Show summary
We present our work on an encrypted letter from the Thirty Years’ War written by the ally of the Swedish Empire, Sigismund Heusner von Wandersleben in 1637 and sent from Kassel to the Swedish High Lord Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. We describe our analysis of the ciphertext including information on the cipher type, the process of cryptanalysis and challenges for the decipherment. We include the edition of the letter in the current state of decipherment and summarize its content.

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Waldispühl, Michelle & Megyesi, Beáta (2024). Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024. D-Space at Tartu University Library. ISBN 978-99-1683-384-1. 258 p.

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Megyesi, Beáta; Fornés, Alicia; Nils, Kopal; Benedek, Láng; Waldispühl, Michelle & Mikhalev, Vasily [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Historical Cryptology. In Esslinger, Bernhard (Eds.), Learning and Experiencing Cryptography with CrypTool and SageMath. Artech House. ISSN 978-1-68569-017-5. p. 97–138. Show summary
Historical cryptology studies (original) encrypted manuscripts, often handwritten sources, produced in our history. These historical sources can be found in archives, often hidden without any indexing and therefore hard to locate. Once found they need to be digitized and turned into a machine-readable text format before they can be deciphered with computational methods. The focus of historical cryptology is not primarily the development of sophisticated algorithms for decipherment, but rather the entire process of analysis of the encrypted source from collection and digitization to transcription and decryption. The process also includes the interpre- tation and contextualization of the message set in its historical context. There are many challenges on the way, such as mistakes made by the scribe, errors made by the transcriber, damaged pages, handwriting styles that are difficult to interpret, historical languages from various time periods, and hidden underlying language of the message. Ciphertexts vary greatly in terms of their code system and symbol sets used with more or less distinguishable symbols. Ciphertexts can be embedded in clearly written text, or shorter or longer sequences of cleartext can be embedded in the ciphertext. The ciphers used mostly in historical times are substitutions (simple, homophonic, or polyphonic), with or without nomenclatures, encoded as digits or symbol sequences, with or without spaces. So the circumstances are different from those in modern cryptography which focuses on methods (algorithms) and their strengths and assumes that the algo- rithm is applied correctly. For both historical and modern cryptology, attack vectors outside the algorithm are applied like implementation flaws and side-channel attacks. In this chapter, we give an introduction to the field of historical cryptology and present an overview of how researchers today process historical encrypted sources.

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Published Jan. 2, 2024 3:47 PM - Last modified May 22, 2024 11:12 AM

Michelle Waldispühl

Academic interests

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Background

Publications

Popular science publications

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