Modern English Language and Linguistics
Glasgow colleagues are active in individual research in every area of Modern English Language studies, from phonetics and phonology through grammar and discourse studies to lexicology and semantics, and we also have access to numerous large electronic datasets available for exploitation in research. The School is a leading centre for Corpus Linguistics, There are cross-School synergies with colleagues working on Scots and Scottish English, and on historical English Language, most notably on language variation and change.
The School has special strengths in sociolinguistics, with several major ESRC-funded projects such as Stability versus Change in a Shetland Dialect and the recently-awarded One Speaker, Two Dialects projects, and researchers work closely with colleagues in the School of Psychology, e.g. through the AHRC-funded STACS project. There is a cross-theme interest in both Modern and Historical English Language clusters in linguistic variation and change.
Experimental phonetics is a major strength. The School operates a well-equipped and recently-upgraded experimental phonetics laboratory, Glasgow University Laboratory Phonetics (GULP), with an associated Speech Studio. In 2011 GULP hosted an international colloquium, followed by a Scotland-wide Knowledge Exchange Day for students of speech therapy and phonetics, building on our partnership with Micro-phonics Ltd.; and in 2013 the Carnegie Trust selected the Seeing Speech project to represent its funding programme at an exhibition in the Scottish Parliament (subsequent funding will develop Seeing Speech as the Dynamic Dialects project). These projects featured at an all-day Glasgow Digital Humanities network workshop (2013), building on links established at the recent College Industry Day.