Language and Society

The satellite brings together researchers from:

• the School of Education: James Simpson, Mike Baynham, Lou Harvey
• the School of English: Julia Snell (Convenor), Tony Crowley, Kate Spowage, Mel Evans
• the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies: Bethan Davies, Gisela Tomé Lourido, Rasha Soliman, James Wilson
• the Language Centre: Yolanda Cerdá

If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Julia Snell (j.snell@leeds.ac.uk).

We address a broad range of research questions, such as: What are the processes through which linguistic features and styles come to be associated with social meanings? Why do regional dialects persist in the face of overt stigmatisation? What kinds of classroom talk are best for children’s learning? How is language involved in the replication of educational inequalities? How do people communicate across different languages and cultures in diverse urban centres? How are class, gender and ethnic identities constructed through language use? How are language-related issues represented in and by the media?

To address these questions, we draw upon a range of research methodologies and perspectives, including, quantitative variationist sociolinguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, linguistic ethnography, and discourse analysis.