Nain Inuit English

 

One of my current research strands grows out of my dissertation, which describes the variety of English emerging in an Inuit community in northern Canada that is transitioning from being Inuktitut dominant to English dominant. This research applies theories of new dialect formation, models of postcolonial Englishes, and variationist sociolinguistic methodologies to develop an initial description of the dialect. I examine phonological, morphosyntactic, and discourse variables to try to create an initial description of this previously unstudied variety, in addition to exploring the intersection of attitudes, language shift, and identity and how they are expressed by community members. 

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Language attitudes in the Romandie

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My interest in attitudes and ideologies carries over to my new project, which uses perceptual dialectology to explore how people in the French-speaking part of Switzerland feel about the different dialects and languages they encounter. 

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Newfoundland and Labrador English

 

I have conducted variationist analyses on features of Newfoundland English both on my own and in collaboration with Dr Gerard Van Herk (Memorial University, Canada) and Dr Becky Childs (James Madison University, USA), using data collected in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, an historic fishing village that now acts as a bedroom community to the provincial capital of St. John's.

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With Dr Gerard Van Herk and Dr Paul De Decker (Memorial University, Canada), I have also looked at survey data about language use in the province.

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I am currently undertaking a real-time study of English in the capital city of St. John's.

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Múin Béarla do na Leanbháin

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I was a research associate on Prof. Karen Corrigan's (Newcastle University, UK) newest project, entitled "Múin Béarla do na Leanbháin” (‘Teach the Children English’): Migration as a prism for viewing ethnolinguistic vitality in Northern Ireland". This study explores the intersection of language and migration in historic and present-day communities in Northern Ireland. I analysed recent interviews with young people from local and migrant families, looking to see if the children and adolescents from non-local families were acquiring and/or using features of Norther Irish English in the same way as their local peers. Please visit the project website for more information.