About Me
I'm currently a Lecturer in Sociolinguistics within English Language and Linguistics (School of Critical Studies) at the University of Glasgow. I am a primarily qualitative researcher interested in sociolinguistic approaches to language and gender, national identity, nationalism.
I completed my PhD at Queen Mary University of London in Mile End, East London, funded by the ESRC’s LISS-DTP (that's the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, of the Economic and Social Research Council). My PhD research looked at the recent (and ongoing) debates surrounding the legalisation of abortion in Ireland, from a linguistic landscape perspective. In particular, I'm interested in how issues of gender and national identity surfaced in signage commenting on or advocating for or against liberalisation of abortion laws, and how the relationship between them was conceived of.
I'm also interested in (critical) discourse analysis, multimodality, language and identity, and (language) ideology. My research is now moving towards language and discrimination and sociolinguistic approaches to the construction of national identities. Current projects I'm working on include a mixed-methods (discourse analytic and experimental sociolinguistic) study investigating discriminatory attitudes towards female football commentators, the relevance of Irish English for national identity construction and interactions between political economic and sociolinguistic theory on social media.
Previously, I've carried out research on Irish-language rap and masculinity, British political discourse around Covid-19, the relationship between pro-life and anti-mask discourse(s), and the (digital) political economy of language in the context of Brexit billboard campaigns. Some of these have become publications and some have taken the form of conference presentations.
In terms of teaching, I teach courses aimed at first/second-year and advanced undergraduates, MA students, as well as training courses for PGRs ("PhD students"). These are mostly in the area of sociolinguistics, covering variationist and qualitative approaches, methods and theory in sociolinguistics, as well as discourse analysis.
My various research interests - and in particular my interest in politics, identity and national belonging - are down to my growing up in a half-English, half-Irish household in North London, with two passports but no single coherent identity. I spent several years studying and working in Ireland, including stints as a Dublin tour-guide and working in machine translation. I returned to London to pursue my PhD and am now working in Glasgow. Any other questions, feel free to get in touch!