Sociolinguistics Research Group

Description

The research of the Sociolinguistics Research Group focuses on how language is embedded in the social context of its use. This includes an interest in the ways in which language varies across time, across different social groups and in different social contexts. The Group has developed a cross-methodological approach, recruiting quantitative, qualitative and experimental methods to understanding how language use interfaces with social structure and individual subjectivity.

Lately members have been working on topics including the spread of "uptalk" in London, language change in multicultural Paris, the rise of "fake news" as a media phenomenon, dialect stylisation on Twitter, language change across the lifespan, reading skills in bilingual children, and style and change in new English dialects, among many others. Members are happy to consider research proposals investigating phonetic, morphosyntactic, pragmatic and/or discursive variation in language as it relates to both local interactional contexts and broader societal structures.

The Group calendar of events includes regular reading groups on Sociolinguistics and Experimental Linguistics, a Social Theory Book Club, training workshops on sociolinguistic methods, informal ling-lunches, an invited seminar series, and the annual Jenny Cheshire Lecture in Sociolinguistics. The Group is a member of the ESRC-funded London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, and also contribute to the Cross-London Sociolinguistics Seminar, a postdoctoral training initiative organised in collaboration with King's College London, the UCL Institute of Education, and Birkbeck, University of London.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

Queen Mary, University of London
London