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Linguistics at Northumbria

Linguistics at Northumbria covers a very broad range of applied and theoretical areas, using a wide range of empirical techniques.

Our areas of expertise include:

  • cognitive linguistics
  • first and second language acquisition
  • forensic linguistics
  • language evolution and change
  • language in education
  • language teaching
  • language variation
  • medical communication
  • pragmatics
  • sociolinguistics
  • stylistics
  • TESOL

Our current research includes projects which focus on:

  • identity issues facing Native Speaking English Teachers living and working abroad
  • ways of supporting learners of English as a second language with low levels of literacy
  • the role of metaphor in maths education
  • the role of pragmatic inference in the production, interpretation and evaluation of texts
  • how accent and dialect diversity can be used as a resource in teaching
  • implicit and explicit attitudes to language variation
  • the historical development of yes and other positive and negative markers in English 
  • pragmatics and language change
  • the evolution of language
  • the relationship between musical perception and the perception of speech prosody
  • metaphor and time
  • critical pedagogy and language teaching
  • individual differences in language processing
  • discursive practices in Dark Web criminal activities
  • the language of police interviews

For further information on our researchers and their projects, see our staff profile pages:

For general queries about linguistics at Northumbria, contact Billy Clark:

billy.clark@northumbria.ac.uk


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Courses within Humanities

The Department of Humanities offers a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. By studying at Northumbria you will become part of a passionate and creative community.

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Northumbria Research Link

Northumbria Research Link (NRL) is an open access repository of Northumbria University's research output.

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Undergraduate Open Day Events

Looking to study in with us in September? Our Undergraduate Open Day Events are the perfect opportunity for you to find out as much as you can about our wide range of courses and world-class facilities.

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Pictured are Amy Pargeter, Assistant Keeper of Art at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, and Northumbria University PhD student Ella Nixon, standing in the Laing Art Gallery with pictures on the wall behind them
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