Mam or mum?

In an article published in the journal Sociolinguistic Studies, Dr Michael Pearce considers how the technological advances associated with Web 2.0 allow people to interact in online ‘communities’ built around shared interests and concerns. Michael's article examines an online messageboard virtually located in North East England, and explores the ways in which participants’ beliefs about and attitudes towards sociolinguistic variation emerge through discourse. He focuses on a single ‘conversation’ about the sociolinguistic variable mam/mum, revealing the language ideologies which inform the sociolinguistic awareness of participants, and concludes by using the concept of ‘late modernity’ as an interpretive frame to help understand what is happening as people appropriate a global technology for local social action.

Pearce, M. 2015.  Mam or mum? Sociolinguistic awareness and language-ideological debates online. Sociolinguistic Studies, 9 (1): 115-135.

The North and Northness

Dr Mike Pearce has been invited to speak at 'The North and Northness: Ideas of Place, Locatedness and Regions.' This half-day event organized by the Cultural Significance of Place (CSoP) interdisciplinary research group at Newcastle University, takes place on Friday 29th May 2015. Mike's paper is entitled 'Anyone from the north east who says 'Mum' should be shot'.  The event will explore varying understandings of the North, as constructed and applied over a range of disciplines, and consider the role ‘Northness’ has played in the evolution of ideas of place, locatedness and regions. Further details can be found here.

English Research Seminar

The English Research Seminar on Wednesday 6th May will be given by Professor Abdur Raheem Kidwai from Aligarh Muslim University, India. His paper is entitled '"The Challenging Gaze": Islam/Muslims in Today's Globalized World in Qaisra Shahraz's novel Revolt' (2013). Based in Manchester, UK, Qaisra Shahraz, of Pakistani descent, seeks to recontextualize Islam with modernity in her fiction. While displaying a nuanced understanding of today’s challenges, her novels are embedded in the Islamic value system. This amalgam between tradition and modernity, especially in the context of gender parity in Muslim society is a new, interesting aspect of the discourse. All staff and students are welcome to the talk, which starts at 5pm in Priestman 313.