Studying how the social, interpersonal, and discursive context of language shapes its forms and uses We are interested in studying how the social, interpersonal, and discursive context of language shapes its forms and uses. We welcome discussion of topics in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and stylistics. Research topics include language ideologies, language and identity, language shift, attitudes to language, discourse analysis, and language contact.We see the communicative and symbolic functions of language variation and use as fundamental to, not adjuncts to, a comprehensive theory of human linguistic production and comprehension. We believe that quantitative and qualitative methods complement each other in the study of linguistics, and we encourage research that explores productive ways of combining these types of data. We equally encourage research connecting descriptions of actual language use with theoretical approaches in linguistics and related disciplines.PeopleStaff working in this area include: Image Research interestsDr Claire CowieWorld Englishes; language contact; morphological productivity; pragmaticsDr Joseph GafarangaMultilingualism, Discourse and Conversation AnalysisDr Lauren Hall-LewSociolinguistics; sociophonetics; phonetic methods; English variation and change; language and ethnicity; language and tourismProfessor John JosephApplied linguistics; history of linguistics; semioticsDr Sumin ZhaoDr Sumin Zhao is a Lecturer in Discourse Analysis, specialising in Critical and Multimodal Discourse Analysis. Her research focuses on computer-mediated and social media discourses. She also researches home-based digital literacy practices of young (multilingual) children using linguistic ethnography.Postgraduate studyPhD and MSc by Research ProgrammesMeetingsThe language in context research group holds a series of seminars, held approximately on a fortnightly basis, throughout semesters 1 and 2. These are usually held in alternation with the language variation and change seminar series.Language in context research seminarsLanguage variation and change seminarsIf you would like to present your research, hold a workshop, dry run a paper for a conference, or simply share your thoughts on any of the LinC-related topics please visit either of the seminar series home pages above. This article was published on 2024-10-14