Discourse-pragmatic variation and change
Most of my work to date has focused on the analysis of discourse-pragmatic variation and change (DiPVaC) and investigated how the use of so-called ‘discourse markers’ or ‘pragmatic particles’ varies across individuals, space and time. Among the features I have examined are: I don't know, I don't think, general extenders (e.g. and stuff, and that, or something like that), negative-polarity question tags (e.g. isn’t it, haven’t they), utterance-final tags (e.g. yeah, right), and – my all-time favourite – innit. I have developed new methods for subjecting these features to accountable variationist analysis, explored form-function correlations in their use, examined the diffusion of discourse-pragmatic innovations in synchronic dialect data, and cautioned against uncritically attributing synchronic variation patterns to processes of grammaticalization or the effect of language contact. Some of this research has been produced in collaboration with Stephen Levey (University of Ottawa, Canada).
As well as authoring a monograph and several journal articles on DiPVaC, and editing the first-ever volume dedicated to this field, I have promoted DiPVaC internationally. I am founding chair of the international DiPVaC research network (www.dipvac.org), and launched the biennial DiPVaC conference series as a forum for new collaborations that also builds research capacity through training workshops. I hosted the conference in 2012 and 2014.
I have worked to promote DiPVaC beyond disciplinary boundaries. In collaboration with Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA) I have demonstrated the application of DiPVaC research in mental health care.
I have also organized outreach events for diverse audiences (some in collaboration with Sue Fox, University of Bern, Switzerland) and appeared on the Radio 4 Feedback programme to challenge widespread prejudices about the use and users of discourse-pragmatic features (e.g. that they are symptomatic of laziness or inarticulacy), and to combat attendant language-based discrimination.
Most of my work to date has focused on the analysis of discourse-pragmatic variation and change (DiPVaC) and investigated how the use of so-called ‘discourse markers’ or ‘pragmatic particles’ varies across individuals, space and time. Among the features I have examined are: I don't know, I don't think, general extenders (e.g. and stuff, and that, or something like that), negative-polarity question tags (e.g. isn’t it, haven’t they), utterance-final tags (e.g. yeah, right), and – my all-time favourite – innit. I have developed new methods for subjecting these features to accountable variationist analysis, explored form-function correlations in their use, examined the diffusion of discourse-pragmatic innovations in synchronic dialect data, and cautioned against uncritically attributing synchronic variation patterns to processes of grammaticalization or the effect of language contact. Some of this research has been produced in collaboration with Stephen Levey (University of Ottawa, Canada).
As well as authoring a monograph and several journal articles on DiPVaC, and editing the first-ever volume dedicated to this field, I have promoted DiPVaC internationally. I am founding chair of the international DiPVaC research network (www.dipvac.org), and launched the biennial DiPVaC conference series as a forum for new collaborations that also builds research capacity through training workshops. I hosted the conference in 2012 and 2014.
I have worked to promote DiPVaC beyond disciplinary boundaries. In collaboration with Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA) I have demonstrated the application of DiPVaC research in mental health care.
I have also organized outreach events for diverse audiences (some in collaboration with Sue Fox, University of Bern, Switzerland) and appeared on the Radio 4 Feedback programme to challenge widespread prejudices about the use and users of discourse-pragmatic features (e.g. that they are symptomatic of laziness or inarticulacy), and to combat attendant language-based discrimination.
Language contact
A developing research interest of mine, arising from my ongoing work on innit in Multicultural London English, is the role of language contact in discourse-pragmatic innovation and change. I explore possible multiple language contact effects and some of the challenges of establishing these in ongoing discourse-pragmatic change in a forthcoming paper in Language in Society.
A developing research interest of mine, arising from my ongoing work on innit in Multicultural London English, is the role of language contact in discourse-pragmatic innovation and change. I explore possible multiple language contact effects and some of the challenges of establishing these in ongoing discourse-pragmatic change in a forthcoming paper in Language in Society.
Language variation and mental health
With Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA), I have investigated language variation patterns in health communication. Our first project focused on I don't know in paediatric mental health consultations, and produced guidelines for differentiating when paediatric mental health patients use I don't know as a disavowal of knowledge as distinct from a means to frustrate psychiatrists’ questioning in order to resist diagnosis and treatment. Our second project focused on the use of I don't know by people living with dementia, and demonstrated how their variable use of I don't know in cognitive tests can serve as an objective indicator of disease progression and severity. Crucially, we found that older adults living with dementia did not exhibit the usage patterns I had previously established for I don't know in ‘healthy’ populations of all ages; a strong correlation of phonetically full variants (I don’t know) with referential meanings (i.e., to signal insufficient knowledge) and of phonetically reduced variants (I dunno) with pragmatic uses (e.g. to signal epistemic uncertainty, turn-exchange, topic closure, etc.) was absent in this population.
These projects received funding from the Institute for Social Renewal and HaSS Faculty at Newcastle University, UK, and a grant from the Norman Kagan Endowment Fund at Michigan State University, USA.
With Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA), I have investigated language variation patterns in health communication. Our first project focused on I don't know in paediatric mental health consultations, and produced guidelines for differentiating when paediatric mental health patients use I don't know as a disavowal of knowledge as distinct from a means to frustrate psychiatrists’ questioning in order to resist diagnosis and treatment. Our second project focused on the use of I don't know by people living with dementia, and demonstrated how their variable use of I don't know in cognitive tests can serve as an objective indicator of disease progression and severity. Crucially, we found that older adults living with dementia did not exhibit the usage patterns I had previously established for I don't know in ‘healthy’ populations of all ages; a strong correlation of phonetically full variants (I don’t know) with referential meanings (i.e., to signal insufficient knowledge) and of phonetically reduced variants (I dunno) with pragmatic uses (e.g. to signal epistemic uncertainty, turn-exchange, topic closure, etc.) was absent in this population.
These projects received funding from the Institute for Social Renewal and HaSS Faculty at Newcastle University, UK, and a grant from the Norman Kagan Endowment Fund at Michigan State University, USA.
Language variation and change in later life
My work on language variation in dementia consultations has triggered my interest in language variation and change in old age, a life-stage that has rarely been the central focus of variationist activity. In our 2018 paper in the Language and Linguistics Compass, co-authored with Suzanne Evans Wagner (Michigan State University, USA) and Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA), we argue that research exploring older adults’ language use in its own right has the potential to expand our understanding of the social indexicality of language variation and enhance the accuracy of models of language change.
To test these claims, I have been collecting a longitudinal corpus of vernacular speech data from adults aged 70+ in Tyneside, north-east England. Stay tuned for more.
My work on language variation in dementia consultations has triggered my interest in language variation and change in old age, a life-stage that has rarely been the central focus of variationist activity. In our 2018 paper in the Language and Linguistics Compass, co-authored with Suzanne Evans Wagner (Michigan State University, USA) and Ashley Hesson (University of Michigan, USA), we argue that research exploring older adults’ language use in its own right has the potential to expand our understanding of the social indexicality of language variation and enhance the accuracy of models of language change.
To test these claims, I have been collecting a longitudinal corpus of vernacular speech data from adults aged 70+ in Tyneside, north-east England. Stay tuned for more.
Comparative sociolinguistics
With Stephen Levey (University of Ottawa, Canada), I’m working on a project that compares the choice of restrictive relativizers (who, whose, whom, which, what, that, Ø) across six contemporary varieties of English in the UK and Canada. Using the framework of comparative sociolinguistics, we examine the conditioning of relativizer choice in order to: assess the infiltration of WH-relativizers into our selected varieties; and determine the extent to which the social and linguistic conditioning of relativizer choice exhibits cross-varietal parallels.
This project is funded by the Catherine Cookson Foundation at Newcastle University, UK.
With Stephen Levey (University of Ottawa, Canada), I’m working on a project that compares the choice of restrictive relativizers (who, whose, whom, which, what, that, Ø) across six contemporary varieties of English in the UK and Canada. Using the framework of comparative sociolinguistics, we examine the conditioning of relativizer choice in order to: assess the infiltration of WH-relativizers into our selected varieties; and determine the extent to which the social and linguistic conditioning of relativizer choice exhibits cross-varietal parallels.
This project is funded by the Catherine Cookson Foundation at Newcastle University, UK.