Ich bin seit April 2026 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin für französische Sprachwissenschaft am Institut für Romanistik der Universität Innsbruck. Meine Forschung bewegt sich an der Schnittstelle von Pragmatik und Argumentationstheorie und zeichnet sich durch einen starken Fokus auf experimentelle Methoden aus. Zuvor war ich als Postdoktorandin an der Université de Fribourg sowie als Doktorandin und Assistentin an der Universität Bern tätig. Promoviert habe ich an der Universität Bern mit einer Dissertation zum Strohmannargument. In der Arbeit untersuchte ich, wie sprachliche Faktoren, beispielsweise die Verwendung von Kausalkonnektoren, die Akzeptanz eines Strohmannarguments beeinflussen.

Ab April 2026

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Institut für Romanistik, Universität Innsbruck (AT)

Feb. 2026 – Jul. 2026

Lehrbeauftragte, Institut de langue et de littérature françaises, Universität Bern (CH)

Mär. 2022 – Mär. 2026

Postdoctoral researcher SNSF, Department of English, Université de Fribourg (CH)

Sep. 2023 – Jan. 2024

Lehrbeauftragte, Department of English, Université de Fribourg (CH)

Aug. 2022 – Jul. 2023

Lehrbeauftragte, Institut de langue et de littérature françaises, Universität Bern (CH)

Okt. 2016 – Feb. 2022

Doktorandin/Assistentin franz. Linguistik , Institut de lang. et de litt. françaises, Universität Bern (CH)

Jul. 2017 – Jan. 2018

Assistentin in zeitgenössischer französischer Literatur, Romanisches Seminar, Universität Zürich (CH)

Dez. 2013 – Sep. 2016

Hilfsassistentin, Institut de langue et de littérature françaises, Universität Bern (CH)

Okt. 2012 – Feb. 2013

Datenerhebung und Transkription, Istituto di lingua e letteratura italiana, Universität Bern (CH)

Forschungsschwerpunkte

In meiner Forschung bewege ich mich an der Schnittstelle der experimentellen Pragmatik und Argumentationstheorie. Mithilfe quantitativer Methoden untersuche ich, wie sprachliche und argumentative Faktoren die Perzeption, Akzeptanz und Überzeugungskraft von Argumenten sowie argumentativen Trugschlüssen beeinflussen. Momentan interessiere ich mich zudem für die Perzeption von Sprecherinnen und Sprechern, insbesondere dafür, wie sich ihr Bild (Ethos) durch das Gesprochene verändert und welche Rolle Geschlechteridentität dabei spielt. Die folgenden Themen stehen bei mir im Fokus:

• Argumentationstheorie / Argumentative Trugschlüsse
• Pragmatik
• Experimentelle Linguistik
• Kognitive Linguistik / Psycholinguistik
• Konnektoren, Epistemische Diskursmarker
• Geschlechteridentität

Monographie

Schumann, J. (2025). The Pragmatics of Straw Man Fallacies. An Experimental Approach. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.

Gasteditorin für Special Issues und Kollaboration

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (Eds.)(Sept. 2026) Experimental Approaches to Argumentation: Part 2 [Special Issue]. Argumentation.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (Eds.)(2026). Experimental Approaches to Argumentation: Part 1 [Special Issue]. Argumentation 40(1).

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (Eds.)(2024). Pragmatic perspectives on disagreement [Special Issue]. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 12(1).

Horak, A. (ed.), Schumann, J. & Lüthy, S. (collab.) (2014-2015). L’hyperbole rhétorique. TRANEL 61-62.

Wissenschaftliche Artikel mit Peer-Review

Schumann, J., de Oliveira Fernandes, D., and Oswald, S. (in prep.). Does rephrasing facilitate the processing and comprehension of information? A self-paced reading approach.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (in press). The effect of intensifying rephrases on argument persuasiveness. Informal Logic.

Schumann, J., Aikin, S. & Casey, J. (2026). How people react to being straw-manned. Empirical evidence for the non-persuasiveness of straw men on the target.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2024). Pragmatic perspectives on disagreement [Special Issue]. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 12 (1), 1-16.

Schumann, J. (2022). Do people perceive the disagreement in straw man fallacies? An experimental investigation. Languages 7, 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020111

Schumann, J. Zufferey, S. & Oswald, S. (2021). The linguistic formulation of fallacies matters: the case of causal connectives. Argumentation 35, 361-388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-020-09540-0

Schumann, J., Zufferey, S. & Oswald, S. (2019). What makes a straw man acceptable? Three experiments assessing linguistic factors. Journal of Pragmatics, 141, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.12.009

Buchkapitel mit Peer-Review

Schumann, J. (2026). Experimental Approaches to Argumentation. In S. F. Aikin, J. P. Casey, and K. Stevens, The Routledge Handbook of Argumentation. Milton Park (UK) & New York (USA): Routledge.

Conference Proceedings

Schumann, J. (forth.) Commentary on “Religionation of Belief and the Demise of Argument: The Kisceral mode gone awry “ by Michael Gilbert. In: Proceedings of the 13th OSSA Conference: Changing minds, OSSA Conference Archive. University of Windsor, Canada.

Herman, T. & Schumann, J. (forth.). Changing the speaker’s image. An experimental approach to ethos. In: Proceedings of the 13th OSSA Conference: Changing minds, OSSA Conference Archive. University of Windsor, Canada.

Schumann, J. & Zufferey, S. (2020). Connectives and straw men. Experimental approach on French and English. In: Proceedings of the 12th OSSA Conference: Evidence Persuasion & Diversity, OSSA Conference Archive. University of Windsor, Canada.

Publikationen ohne Peer-Review

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (forth.). Benefits, Diversity and Prospects of Experimental Methods in Argumentation [Editorial Article to the Special Issue Part 2 “Experimental Approaches to Argumentation]. Argumentation.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2026). Approaching the Study of Argumentation from an Experimental Perspective [Editorial Article to the Special Issue Part 1 “Experimental Approaches to Argumentation]. Argumentation.

Allein, L., Schumann, J., Gajewska, E. & Pereira-Farina, M. (2023). Bravehearting Language of Polarisation. In E. Gajewska, K. Budzynska, B. Konat & M. Koszowy (Eds.) Linguistically analysing polarisation on social media. Technical Report of the Workshop on Polarisation, 16 & 17 March 2023 in Radziejowice, organised by the Laboratory of the New Ethos, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland.

Abschlussarbeiten

Schumann, J. (2022). The pragmatics of straw man fallacies. An experimental approach [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2016). Les patois francoprovençaux. Une étude historique et empirique [Unpublished Master thesis]. University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2013). La préciosité. Histoire de la préciosité au XVIIe siècle et ses influences sur la langue française [Unpublished Bachelor thesis]. University of Bern, Switzerland.

Vorträge

Vorträge an Konferenzen und Workshops

Schumann, J. (2025). Reformulation and its pragmatic-cognitive underpinnings. Insights from intensification and clarification. Reformulation and rephrase: towards an empirically grounded pragma-rhetorical model, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2025). Tracking the experimental turn in argumentation. Progress, challenges, and new horizons. European Conference on Argumentation (ECA 2025), Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.

Schumann, J. & de Oliveira Fernandes, D. (2025). Does rephrasing in argumentation facilitate processing and comprehension? A self-paced reading task. European Conference on Argumentation (ECA 2025), Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.

Schumann, J., Aikin, S. & Casey, J. (2025). How people react to being straw-maned. Empirical Evidence for the non-persuasiveness of straw men on the target. European conference on Argumentation (ECA 2025), Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.

Schumann, J. (2024). Does rephrasing in argumentation increase comprehension? An experimental approach. 4th Argumentation and Language Conference (ARGAGE 2024), University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2024). Experimentally assessing the role of rephrase loci on persuasiveness. 4th Argumentation and Language Conference (ARGAGE 2024), University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Younis, R., de Oliveira Fernandes, D., Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2024). Does reformulating using numbers increase persuasion? An experimental study. 4th Argumentation and Language Conference (ARGAGE 2024), University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Herman, T. & Schumann, J. (2024). Changing the speaker’s image. An experimental approach to ethos. 13th OSSA Conference, University of Windsor, Canada.

Herman, T. & Schumann, J. (2023). An experimental approach to speaker ethos. X-Prag Switzerland Workshop, University of Fribourg.

Kikteva, Z., Schumann, J., Hautli-Janisz, A. & Oswald, S. (2023). Incorporating cognitive evidence in a computational model for persuasiveness. 56th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europea, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Younis, R., Schumann, J., Herman, T., de Oliveira Fernandes, D. & Oswald, S. (2023). To what rhetorical effects? Experimental evidence on the rhetorical advantages of rephrasing. 56th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europea, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Lomelì Hernandez, J. A. & Schumann, J. (2023). Gender bias in argument evaluation. 10th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA), University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

Younis, R., Schumann, J., Herman, T., de Oliveira Fernandes, D. & Oswald, S. (2023). Casting light on the rhetorical effects of rephrase: An experimental study. 10th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA), University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

Younis, R., Schumann, J. & Oswald, S. (2022). AMoRe – An Argumentative Model of Rephrase. Journée de la Linguistique suisse 2022, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2022). From corpus to experiment and back. Insights on the experimental approach to rephrase. ECA 2022, University of Roma Tre, Italy.

Schumann, J. (2022). Investigating the refutational dimension of straw man fallacies. An experimental approach to perceived disagreement. ECA 2022, University of Roma Tre, Italy.

Schumann, J. (2022). Experimental Methods in Argumentation. AMoRe kick-off workshop, University of Technology Warsaw, Poland.

Schumann, J. (2021). Investigating the perception of disagreement in straw man fallacies. XPrag.ch 2021: Pragmatics and its Interfaces, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2021). Do people spot the disagreement in straw man fallacies? An experimental approach. ARGAGE 2021: Argumentation and Language, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2021). The pragmatics of straw men. An experimental investigation. IMAFUN kick-off workshop: Implicit meaning in argumentation, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2021). Le rôle des connecteurs pour l’acceptabilité de l’homme de paille. Combiner étude de corpus et approche expérimentale. CUSO-Workshop: Combining corpus and experimental data in linguistics, University of Lausanne & University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J., Zufferey, S. & Oswald, S. (2021). An experimental investigation of perceived disagreement in straw man fallacies. 17th International Pragmatics Conference, University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2021). The pragmatics of straw men. An experimental investigation. BeLing Forschungskolloquium, Center for the Study of Language and Society, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2020). The Pragmatics of Straw Men. An experimental approach. CUSO-Workshop: Identifier et analyser l’argumentation dans les textes et les interactions, University of Lausanne & University of Berne, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. & Zufferey, S. (2020). Empirical evidence for the role of connectives on the acceptability of the straw man fallacy. 53rd SLE Conference, University of Bucharest, Romania.

Schumann, J. & Zufferey, S. (2020). Connectives and straw men. Experimental approach on French and English. 12th OSSA Conference, University of Windsor, Canada.

Schumann, J. & Zufferey, S. (2019). The pragmatics of straw men. An experimental approach. X-Prag Switzerland 2019, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Schumann, J., Zufferey, S. & Oswald, S. (2019). Empirical evidence for the role of information structure and connectives on the acceptability of straw man fallacies. ECA 2019, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands.

Schumann, J., Zufferey, S. & Oswald, S. (2018). What makes a straw man efficient? Three experiments assessing linguistic and cognitive factors. Argage 2018, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.

Gastvorträge

Schumann, J. (December 2025). Experimental Approaches to Argumentation. Values and Limits. Invited lecturer in the graduate course Argumentation in Context, University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

Schumann, J, Aikin, S. & Casey, J. (2025). How people react to being straw-manned: An empirical study. AILACT Speakers Forum, Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking.

Schumann, J. (2025). Invited lecturer and tutor for the Summer School in collaboration with the Online Handbook of Argumentation and AI (OHAAI) at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, preceding the European Conference of Argumentation (ECA) 2025 at Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

Schumann, J. (2024). Pragmatique et Argumentation. Invited talk in the Bachelor/Master Course “Pragmatique” of Sandrine Zufferey, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2024). The role of causal connectives in straw men. A cross-linguistic perspective. Invited talk in the Kolloquium der Romanischen Linguistik, University of Cologne, Germany.

Schumann, J. (2022). The pragmatics of straw man fallacies. An experimental approach. Invited talk in the Master Seminar “A Pragmatic Approach to Argumentative Fallacies” of Steve Oswald, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2020). Les aspects pragmatiques de l’homme de paille. Une approche expérimentale. Invited talk in the Seminar “Problèmes en pragmatique” de Louis de Saussure et Misha Müller, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Schumann, J. (2018). L’efficacité du straw man. Trois expériences sur des facteurs linguistiques et cognitifis. Presentation in the Research Seminar of the Institut de langue et de littérature françaises, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Poster

Schumann, J. (2019). The straw man fallacy. An experimental approach. Forum of the Graduate School of the Humanities, University of Bern, Switzerland.

media in Italia. 6 (2), S. 75–93.

Universität Innsbruck

• Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin

Außerhalb der Universität

• Sekretärin der Schweizerischen Sprachwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft (SSG/SSL, bis Dez.2026)
• Mitglied des Steering Committee der Argumentation and Language Conference (ARGAGE)
• Mitglied diverser Fachgesellschaften (ACE, ANA, ARGAGE, SLE, SSG)
• Reviewing für diverse Fachzeitschriften: Argumentation, Argumentation in Context, Behavioral Sciences, Informal Logic, Languages, Linguistik online, Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, Peter Lang

Ich habe seit 2017 verschiedene propädeutische sowie Bachelor- und Masterveranstaltungen im Bereich der französischen und vereinzelt auch englischen Sprachwissenschaft geleitet. Meine Lehre behandelt vor allem Themen der Pragmatik und Argumentation, aber auch empirische und andere methodologische Vertiefungen. 2025 hielt ich zudem einen Workshop an der Doctoral School an der Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, welcher im Vorfeld der European Conference on Argumentation (ECA2025) an der Warsaw University of Technology stattfand.

In meiner Lehre lege ich besonderen Wert auf ein ausgewogenes Verhältnis zwischen Wissensvermittlung und dialogischem Austausch mit den Studierenden. Meine Veranstaltungen sind meist sehr interaktiv, damit die Studierenden sowohl Fachwissen als auch transversale Kompetenzen mitnehmen können.