I'm Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, UK.

I teach modules in the English Language and Linguistics undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including 'Exploring Linguistic Diversity' (an introduction to linguistic typology), 'Sociolinguistics', and 'Language and Gesture'. 

My research interests focus on the linguistics of deaf community sign languages, particularly British Sign Language and Auslan (the majority sign language of the Australian deaf community). I have published work on a range of topics, including the lexicon, morphosyntax, typology,  and sociolinguistics of sign languages.  I am particularly interested in how aspects of corpus-based approaches, variationist sociolinguistics, language evolution, and cognitive/functional theories can be applied to the study of sign languages. 

I'm currently principal investigator on the European Research Council SignMorph Project. This five year project aims to conduct work on the role of grammaticalisation, iconicity, and social structure in shaping the linguistic structure of macro- and micro-community sign languages, both 'established' and 'emerging'.