17.12.2019Dr Ruth Kircher (Mercator Research Centre – Fryske Akademy) “Multicultural London English and its speakers: A corpus-informed discourse study of standard language ideology and social stereotypes”

Ruth Kircher is a researcher at the Mercator European Research Centre on

Multilingualism and Language Learning, which is part of the Fryske Akademy in

Leeuwarden (Netherlands). She is a sociolinguist who specialises in societal

multilingualism and language contact – with a particularly interest in language

attitudes and ideologies, social identities and stereotypes, and language policy and

planning.

As part of Melanie Röthlisberger’s BA seminar “Linguistic practices in

urban centres”, Dr Kircher will give a talk on Multicultural London English (MLE),

the multiethnolect spoken in England’s main metropolis. She will show how a corpusinformed

discourse study allows for differences to be discerned between MLE

speakers and non-MLE speakers with regard to ideological issues concerning MLE

itself as well as the stereotypes associated with its speakers.

Tuesday, 17 December 2019, 08:00-08:45

Room PLH-105 (Plattenstrasse 47, 8032 Zürich)

All interested students, members of staff, and other guests are cordially invited.