Research in Linguistics

Research in Linguistics at Queen Mary focuses on understanding what the nature of human language is (specifically its phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics), and how it is used (in particular sociolinguistic, discourse and interactional settings).

Research on these topics is carried out not only by members of the Linguistics Department but also by affiliated colleagues from the departments of French, German and Hispanic Studies.

The department has recently been awarded several major grants to carry out research. See our grants page for details.

The department runs a seminar series for visiting speakers, a postgraduate discussion group, a syntax/semantics reading group and a sociolinguistics reading group. For details, see our page on linguistics talks and reading groups.

Research and teaching staff

• David Adger
  Syntactic theory, interfaces in grammar, syntactic variation
• Jenny Cheshire
  Interactional linguistics, sociolinguistics
• Colleen Cotter
  Sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, language of news media, endangered languages
• Paul Elbourne
  Semantics, syntax-semantics interface, philosophy of language
• Sue Fox
  Sociolinguistic variation and change
• Carlos Gussenhoven
  Intonational phonology, phonology's interfaces with syntax and phonetics
• Daniel Harbour
  Morphological theory, interfaces in grammar
• Erez Levon
  Sociolinguistics, prosodic variation, language and sexuality
• Leigh Oakes
  Language and national identity in France, Québec, and Sweden; language policy in the European Union; language attitudes; language and globalisation
• Christopher Pountain
  Spanish and the Romance languages, their structure and history, especially historical syntax
• Felicity Rash
  Sociolinguistics, language of Switzerland, feminist linguistics, language history, contemporary Swiss literature, German-language propaganda, the language of advertising
• Devyani Sharma
  Sociolinguistics, new Englishes, bilingualism; syntactic variation; syntax and typology

Postgraduate research students

Our research students include the following:

• Issa Abdel-Razaq. ‘Wh-movement in Modern Standard Arabic: a minimalist approach.’ Supervised by David Adger and Paul Elbourne.
• Nada Algharabali. Language, gender and sexuality. Supervised by Colleen Cotter and Felicity Rash. E-mail: nads_50@hotmail.com
• Rusudan Amirejibi-Mullen. ‘National identity and linguistic policy in Georgia.’ Supervised by Leigh Oakes and Colleen Cotter. E-mail: r.amirejibi-mullen@qmul.ac.uk
• Simone Bacchini. ‘The linguistic expression of physical pain in Italian.’ Supervised by Jenny Cheshire and Ralph Penny.
• Oliver Brownlow. ‘A unified model of causation, passivisation and modality.’ Supervised by David Adger and Paul Elbourne.
• Enrico Chessa. ‘Language shift in Alghero: an ecological approach.’ Supervised by Ralph Penny and Chris Pountain.
• Chiara Ciarlo. ‘A new approach to syntactic variation: evidence from a Northern Italian dialect.’ Supervised by David Adger and Jenny Cheshire.
• Barbara Clark. ‘Cabin/Flight Crew communication: factors, effects and group identity construction.’ Supervised by Colleen Cotter. E-mail: b.l.clark@qmul.ac.uk
• Ruth Kircher. ‘The influence of bilingualism on language attitudes in Québec.’ Supervised by Leigh Oakes and Jenny Cheshire. E-mail: ruthkircher@hotmail.com
• Julia Pozas Loyo. ‘The derivates of unus in Medieval Spanish.’ Supervised by Ralph Penny and Chris Pountain. E-mail: j.pozasloyo@qmul.ac.uk
• Maria Secova. ‘Youth language in the learning and teaching of French.’ Supervised by Jenny Cheshire and Leigh Oakes. E-mail: mariasecova@yahoo.co.uk
• Yanne Tse. ‘Explanation communication strategies in education.’ Supervised by Felicity Rash and Jenny Cheshire.

Recent PhD Graduates

Recent graduates from our PhD programme include the following:

• Julio Gimenez, Middlesex University
• Songthama Intachakra, Thammasat University
• Anja Kleemann-Krämer, University of Potsdam
• Stephen Levey, University of Ottawa