Office: 2.04 Dugald Stewart Building
E-mail: Use my first name and last name separated by a dot. Then use AT ed . ac . uk
Phone: +44 131 651-1836 (direct line)
            +44 131 650-3682 (teaching office)

Language in Context is a research group in Linguistics and English Language, part of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences.

Linguistic Interests

I undertake (and supervise) research in the following areas.

• Language Variation (quantitative and qualitative studies)
• NEW! Sociolinguistics and immigration project: information on the study of Polish teenagers' acquisition of local norms of variation in the UK
• Introducing Sociolinguistics (2006) Routledge.

• Gender and Language
  • The Handbook of Language and Gender (2004) Wiley-Blackwell

• Pidgins and Creoles, Pacific creoles, especially Bislama, and Bequian (St Vincent & the Grenadines)
• Constraints on Null Subjects in Bislama (Vanuatu): Social and linguistic factors

• Varieties of English, especially New Zealand English
• Social Networks & Communities of Practice
• Perceptions of Language and Language Users, including language attitudes, language ideologies. (Papers on attitudes and perception are scattered among the sections on gender, creoles, and varieties of English.)

If you follow the links, you will be able to learn more about what I do on each of these topics, and you'll be able to learn details about on-going projects I have in these areas. I welcome enquiries from Honours and Post-Graduate students who are interested in working in these areas. Some recent Honours and PG dissertations I have supervised are listed here.

I am especially interested in language variation. I find that by studying language variation, my attention gets focused on the relationships between linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors in interesting ways. The simple fact of noticing these relationships encourages me to ask questions about the nature of language, and the nature of the social relationships that exist between language users.

This kind of approach to the study of language can be called sociolinguistics, though a good many people call themselves sociolinguists without necessarily sharing this approach. At Edinburgh, we have a "big tent" perspective on sociolinguistics and a number of staff, post-graduate students and post-docs (in Linguistics, English Language and IALS) are interested in variation and/or the sociolinguistics of identity. Research here is undertaken using a range of methods, from quantitative studies to conversation analysis. We meet regularly during the term as a Language in Context Research Group. There are also several people in Informatics who know a lot about language variation and meaning (and they can even implement what they know in a system).

I graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with an MA in Linguistics in 1986, and returned to VUW in 1990 for their one year DipTESL. In 1997, I received a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, and went to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa as an Assistant Professor in Linguistics. In 2001, I came to the University of Edinburgh, and in 2006, I was made Professor of Sociolinguistics.

Research publications, grants, professional activities

You can view my CV here (current as of 06.xii.09).

You will find more details about my publications if you follow the links to the pages describing my research interests in more detail (above).

I am currently on Editorial/Advisory Boards for Te Reo, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Gender & Language, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Sociolinguistic Studies. I am co-editor of the John Benjamins series Creole Language Library.

This is a poem that you might like if you have been reading a lot of academic stuff recently.

Research supervision

I welcome proposals for research especially in the areas of: language variation and change; language contact; creole languages; gender and language.

Please view recent dissertations that I have supervised here and review my own areas of interest (follow the links to individual pages on these topics, above) if you think we would work well together on a topic and would like to send in a proposal.

Teaching

• Honours Sociolinguistics
  Next offered Semester 1 (September-December) 2009.
  This course alternates with Gender and Language.

  This is an option for third and fourth year honours students in linguistics. It looks at topics in language variation and language change, including language and gender, language contact, social stratification of variation in the speech community, networks and communities of practice. It is entirely assessed by course work, and there is a lot of practice in interpreting and analysing variation during the semester. This course provides people who have completed the variation module in Ling2B with more hands-on opportunities to think about the relationship between language variation and linguistic and social structure. If you enrol in this course, you'll be doing a steady amount of practical analysis of variation throughout the semester, including a final project on variation.

  Class meets twice a week, one two-hour slot on Mondays 11.10-13.00 and one one-hour slot on Thursdays 11.10-12.00. (Further lab sessions may be scheduled depending on the size of the class.)

  First meeting: Thursday 24 September 11am, 3.10-11, Dugald Stewart Bldg.

• Introduction to Sociolinguistics
  Core course for the MSc in Applied Linguistics, Semester 1 2009

  This course offers a general introduction to some of the major issues ad methods in sociolinguistcis. Our chief objectives in the course are to:
  - Develop systematic approaches to studying the differences in how we use language
  - Develop a distinctively linguistics perspective in how we describe and explain what we observe.

  With this course, and its sister course Introduction to Discourse Analysis, you will acquire the skills and knowledge needed for a rewarding and invigorating second semester in the MSc-AL.

  Class meets Tuesdays 9.00-11.00 in 3.10-11 Dugald Stewart.

• Linguistics 2B: Empirical Methods
  Next offered Feb-March 2010

  Five, fast and furious weeks of sociolinguistic variation. As the title of the module suggests, there is an emphasis on how to collect and analyse empirical data for sociolinguistic studies. Since the time frame is short, we focus on social dialectology, the key findings from this research over the last forty years, the basic methods used by social dialectologists, from elicitation of specific tokens, to coding of data, and simple tests for significance.

  Empirical Methods in Ling2B mixes lectures with tutorials and workshops where students analyse recorded spoken data in small groups. At the end of the semester, students present an individual report of their group's findings.

• Linguistics 1B: Language in Society

  Introductory issues highlighting the interdependence of language and society. Topics we will cover include, speech communities, societal bilingualism and multilingualism, the interpersonal and social functions of code-switching, language in the media, language vitality and endangerment.

  This part of the course also introduces the fundamentals (method and theory) of discourse analysis. Lectures in DA are taught by various staff.

  Lectures on M, Th, Fr are complemented by tutorials on Wednesdays.

• Special Topics in Sociolinguistics
  Next offered, t.b.a.

  This is an option module in the MSc in Applied Linguistics.

  The course focuses on issues of current relevance to the staff and students taking it. In the past it has offered a critical review of sociolinguistic methods for data collection and analysis; language and gender; language and social identity; etc.

  In 2009, the focus was again on language and identity (in a broad sense), building on the introductory work in this area laid down in the foundation course. We read recent work in the sociolinguistics, variationist and linguistic anthropology literature. One of the key aims of the course is to answer the question "What constitutes a specifically (socio)linguistic approach to the study of language and identity?"

  I welcome auditors in this course, as long as you will be able to keep up with the reading and make a regular contribution to discussion in class.

  Class meets on Tuesday 2.00-4.00pm. There is also an out of sequence session at the end of the semester (one entire Wednesday afternoon -- if you enrol in this course, you must be able to come to this final class).

  You can access a sample outline of the content of the course here.

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This page was last updated 15 September 2009