diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Languages.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Languages.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..623edc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Languages.java
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.tokenizer;
+
+public @interface Languages {
+    String[] value();
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Main.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Main.java
index 26f48f7..7509b46 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Main.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/Main.java
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package de.ids_mannheim.korap.tokenizer;
 
-import io.github.classgraph.ClassGraph;
-import io.github.classgraph.ClassInfoList;
-import io.github.classgraph.ScanResult;
+import io.github.classgraph.*;
 import picocli.CommandLine;
 
 import java.io.*;
@@ -18,6 +16,55 @@
         name = "koraptokenizer", version = "{}", description = "Tokenizes (and sentence splits) text input.")
 public class Main implements Callable<Integer> {
 
+    public final String DEFAULT_LANGUAGE = "de";
+    public final String DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_CLASS_NAME = DerekoDfaTokenizer_de.class.getName();
+
+    @CommandLine.Spec
+    CommandLine.Model.CommandSpec spec;
+
+    public static String getTokenizerForLanguage(String languageTwoLetterCode) {
+        try (ScanResult scanResult = new ClassGraph().enableAllInfo().acceptPackages("*")
+                .scan()) {
+            ClassInfoList korapTokenizerClasses = scanResult.getClassesImplementing("de.ids_mannheim.korap.tokenizer.KorapTokenizer");
+            for (String n: korapTokenizerClasses.getNames()) {
+                AnnotationInfo v = scanResult.getClassInfo(n).getAnnotationInfo(Languages.class.getName());
+                if(v != null)
+                    for (AnnotationParameterValue i : v.getParameterValues()) {
+                        for (String lang : (String []) i.getValue()) {
+                            if (lang.equals(languageTwoLetterCode)) {
+                                return n;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    static class AvailableLanguagesList extends ArrayList<String> {
+        AvailableLanguagesList() {
+            super(listKorAPTokenizerLanguages());
+        }
+
+        static List<String> listKorAPTokenizerLanguages() {
+            ArrayList<String> languages = new ArrayList<>();
+            try (ScanResult scanResult = new ClassGraph().enableAllInfo().acceptPackages("*")
+                    .scan()) {
+                ClassInfoList korapTokenizerClasses = scanResult.getClassesImplementing("de.ids_mannheim.korap.tokenizer.KorapTokenizer");
+                for (String n: korapTokenizerClasses.getNames()) {
+                    AnnotationInfo v = scanResult.getClassInfo(n).getAnnotationInfo(Languages.class.getName());
+                    if(v != null)
+                        for (AnnotationParameterValue i : v.getParameterValues()) {
+                            for (String lang : (String []) i.getValue()) {
+                                languages.add(lang);
+                            }
+                        }
+                }
+            }
+            return languages.stream().sorted().distinct().collect(Collectors.toList());
+        }
+    }
+
     static class AvailableKorapTokenizerList extends ArrayList<String> {
         AvailableKorapTokenizerList() {
             super(listKorAPTokenizerImplementations());
@@ -37,7 +84,23 @@
     @CommandLine.Option(names = {"-T", "--tokenizer-class"},
             completionCandidates= AvailableKorapTokenizerList.class,
             description = "Class name of the actual tokenizer that will be used (candidates: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES} default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
-    String tokenizerClassName = DerekoDfaTokenizer_de.class.getName();
+    String tokenizerClassName = DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_CLASS_NAME;
+
+
+    String language = DEFAULT_LANGUAGE;
+    @CommandLine.Option(names = {"-l", "--language"},
+            completionCandidates = AvailableLanguagesList.class,
+            description = "ISO-639-1 two letter language code (valid candidates: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}; default: " + DEFAULT_LANGUAGE + ")")
+    public void setLanguage(String requestedLanguage) {
+        tokenizerClassName = getTokenizerForLanguage(requestedLanguage);
+        if (tokenizerClassName == null) {
+            throw new CommandLine.ParameterException(spec.commandLine(),
+                    String.format("Invalid value '%s' for option '--language': " +
+                            "(use one of: %s).",  language,
+                            AvailableLanguagesList.listKorAPTokenizerLanguages()));
+        }
+        language = requestedLanguage;
+    }
 
     @CommandLine.Option(names = {"--no-tokens"}, negatable = true, description = "Print tokens (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
     boolean tokens = true;
@@ -122,4 +185,3 @@
         return 0;
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/DerekoDfaTokenizer.jflex b/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/DerekoDfaTokenizer.jflex
index 042080d..939260c 100644
--- a/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/DerekoDfaTokenizer.jflex
+++ b/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/DerekoDfaTokenizer.jflex
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import opennlp.tools.util.Span;
+
+@Languages({ /*$"\""+target.language+"\" })$*/ /*-*/ ""})
 %%
 
 /**
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@
 %char
 
 %{
-   private static final CharSequence[] targetLanguages = { /*$"\""+target.language+"\"};$*/ /*-*/ "" };
+    private static final CharSequence[] targetLanguages = { /*$"\""+target.language+"\"};$*/ /*-*/ "" };
     private boolean xmlEcho = false;
     private boolean normalize = false;
     private boolean debug = false;
@@ -546,7 +548,7 @@
 // pragmas used for anonymization etc.
 PRAGMA = \[_[A-Z\-]+_\]
 
-%include SEABBR_/*$target.language$*/.jflex-macro
+%include language-specific_/*$target.language$*/.jflex-macro
 
 %s OPEN_QUOTE POLISH_CONDITIONAL_MODE JUST_AFTER_PERIOD CLITIC_MODE
 
diff --git a/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/SEABBR_de.jflex-macro b/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/language-specific_de.jflex-macro
similarity index 100%
rename from src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/SEABBR_de.jflex-macro
rename to src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/language-specific_de.jflex-macro
diff --git a/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/SEABBR_en.jflex-macro b/src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/language-specific_en.jflex-macro
similarity index 100%
rename from src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/SEABBR_en.jflex-macro
rename to src/main/jpc/jflex/de/ids_mannheim/korap/tokenizer/language-specific_en.jflex-macro