ISLE Research Network

Search for research themes

Members of ISLE can choose to create a brief profile of their current research activities for publication on our website. Each profile may contain up to 5 'themes', and each theme may include any number of keywords.

We aim for this page to be a showcase of research in English Linguistics. It will enable members to get in touch with others working on related research topics.

Use your own keywords or choose ISLE member / Linguist List keywords:

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(Socio)Linguistic Effects across Political Borders

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Long neglected as "unimportant" variation, political borders that cut across older dialect zones reveal interesting linguistic and sociolinguistic features that are very "real" for speakers

Broadcast English

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I study the role of broadcast English on standardization of spoken language; in particular the role of the Advisory Committee on Spoken English of the BBC.

Standardization of the English language

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The topic of my research is the history of normative English grammar, particularly its contacts with contemporary philosophy of language, rhetoric and poetics.

  • Expires after: 01-01-2525
  • Keywords: Standardization,Historical Linguistics,Historical Sociolinguistics,Language And Culture,Prescriptivism,Grammar Writing

19c grammars and grammar writing

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I investigate British and American grammars, grammar writing and their influence on language change of the time, based on corpus studies and my collection of nineteenth-century grammars (CNG).

Constraints on syntactic variation: noun phrases in early Germanic languages

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The project (2017-2020) focuses on noun phrase word order in Old English, Old Norse (Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian), Old Swedish, Old High German, Old Saxon, and Gothic.

Information structure and word order change in Germanic and Romance languages

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Completed project (2010-2014), which dealt with information structure in Old English, Old Norse, Old High German, Old French, Old Spanish, Classical Portuguese. It is a topic I am still interested in.

Language Mixing in Medieval England

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The project investigates language mixing in historical documents from medieval England. Its results contribute mainly to syntaxctic theory, comparative hsitorical linguistics and digital humanities

Social embedding of neologisms in the history of English

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Tracking new words using historical corpora, OED & HT: who used neologisms, how they spread, what kinds of semantic fields and social meanings they were associated with and how this changed over time.

The Gersum Project

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The AHRC-funded Gersum project explores the Scandinavian influence on medieval English vocabulary by examining the origins of up to 1,600 words in a corpus of Middle English alliterative poems.

  • Website: https://www.gersum.org/
  • Expires after: 01-02-2019
  • Keywords: Historical Linguistics,Lexicology,Semantics,Language Contact

Forms of politeness in the history of English

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Our knowledge of forms of politeness in the history of English is patchy. This project tries to provide a better overall perspective. What kinds of politeness were prevalent in which period?

  • Expires after: 31-12-2018
  • Keywords: Discourse-pragmatic,Historical Linguistics,Diachronic Linguistics

Multilingualism in the Middle Ages

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This is an area I have recently become interested in.

  • Expires after: 31-12-2018
  • Keywords: Historical Linguistics,Language Contact,Language Change

Variation and change in derivational vs. inflectional productivity

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Similar variation and change occur in both derivational and inflectional productivity, supporting the hypothesis of a cline between D & I; hence measures of syntheticity should include derivation.

Verb-second

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When the verb does and doesn't come second.

Null subjects

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Is the subject expressed, or not?