Research

My research examines how languages and dialects vary, and what that variation can tell us about cognitive and social systems. This includes the study of sociolinguistics, style variation, migration, bilingualism, new varieties of English, syntax, and typology. See publications and CV for details.

Dialect and speech style   My current project Generations of London English looks at real-time change in the English of Londoners, across generations and individual lifespans. In much of my work I investigate why individuals develop and use a particular range of speaking styles, particularly in situations of social contact, bilingualism, and migration. I suggest that an examination of accent repertoires and style-shifting can elucidate not just questions of social identity, but also individual cognition and societal structure. 

Accent bias   Our project Accent Bias in Britain (Erez Levon, PI) examined multiple dimensions of attitudes to accents in the UK today. This includes new nationwide surveys of attitudes to accent labels and to audio stimuli of job interviews, a study of whether unconscious accent bias interferes with recruiters' ability to discern competence in the elite profession of law, and attitudes in real-time. 

Diaspora   My project Dialect Development and Style in a Diasporic Community examined dialect variation and social change in an urban dialect contact situation. This ranged from macro-social change across generations to micro-interactional dynamics in the use and transmission of accent features. I was also co-investigator on a project on cultural variation in thinking styles, in particular across generations of British Bangladeshi and white British populations in East London (Why do people from different cultures think differently?, Alex Mesoudi PI). 

World Englishes   I am also interested in linguistic and cognitive factors in language variation and change, with a focus on syntactic variation in bilingual speech and cross-dialectal comparisons. This has included comparisons of the outcomes of language contact in Singapore English, Indian English, African American English, L2 Englishes, and creole languages. 

Syntactic variation   This interest in variation extends to formal models of grammatical typology and variation in English dialects, bilingual grammars, and case and agreement in Indo-Aryan languages. It also includes collaborative work with computational linguists at Google Research on improving NLP for dialect variation in under-resourced language varieties. 

Public engagement   I co-developed the Accent Bias Britain online resource, and co-authored a Sutton Trust report on accent and social mobility. I lead the Accent Bias Britain professional training activities. I have also developed an online resource, Teach Real English!, for use by A-Level English Language teachers and students. And I co-founded the public engagement initiative Multilingual Capital. 

My recent books and journal special issues include:

• From Deficit to Dialect: The Evolution of English in India and Singapore (Oxford University Press, 2023).

• The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes (Oxford University Press, 2017; with M. Filppula and J. Klemola)

• Interaction: Talk and Beyond (Theme Series, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2016-17)

• Labov and Sociolinguistics: Fifty years of language in social context (Theme Issue, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2016; with Allan Bell and David Britain)

• English in the Indian Diaspora (Benjamins, 2014; with Marianne Hundt)

• Research Methods in Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, 2013; with Rob Podesva)

I was Associate Editor at the Journal of Sociolinguistics from 2011-2016.