As we get ready for the new term starting in September,
this is the third in a series of research news from your lecturers. If you’ve
wondered what we get up to when we’re not with you, this is it…
2018 has been a crazy year for me, dominated by the release of The Prodigal Tongue, my book about the 'love–hate relationship' between British and American English. This was my first properly commercial book, intended for a general audience, and published by Oneworld in the UK (in March) and Penguin in the US (in April). To support the book, I've given many talks in the US and UK, done dozens and dozens of radio, newspaper and magazine interviews, and written more general-audience pieces for the Big Issue, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, and Zocalo Public Square. It's been a real thrill to have so much interest shown in this work, which was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar grant, and the reviews for the book have been thrilling too.
I also contributed a chapter on Public Engagement and Linguistic Impact to Dan McIntyre and Hazel Price's volume Applying Linguistics: Language and the Impact Agenda. Over the summer, I gave two talks on doing 'public linguistics': one at the book's launch in Huddersfield, and one as keynote speaker at the CHASE Postgraduate Linguistics Conference at Sussex Workshopping Words and Opening Dialogues.
Lynne Murphy
2018 has been a crazy year for me, dominated by the release of The Prodigal Tongue, my book about the 'love–hate relationship' between British and American English. This was my first properly commercial book, intended for a general audience, and published by Oneworld in the UK (in March) and Penguin in the US (in April). To support the book, I've given many talks in the US and UK, done dozens and dozens of radio, newspaper and magazine interviews, and written more general-audience pieces for the Big Issue, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, and Zocalo Public Square. It's been a real thrill to have so much interest shown in this work, which was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar grant, and the reviews for the book have been thrilling too. 
Work on that book (and the blog that led to the book) has led me in some new research directions. With Justyna Robinson (and with help from Rhys Sandow), I've started looking at how British English is packaged for American audiences (and vice versa) by analysing the lists of 'must-learn' British words presented in American media as well as stereotyped British English in American fiction. On that project, Justyna and I presented a paper at the International Society for the Linguistics of English conference in July: Collywobbles and poppycock: Indexing Britishness for American audiences.
I also contributed a chapter on Public Engagement and Linguistic Impact to Dan McIntyre and Hazel Price's volume Applying Linguistics: Language and the Impact Agenda. Over the summer, I gave two talks on doing 'public linguistics': one at the book's launch in Huddersfield, and one as keynote speaker at the CHASE Postgraduate Linguistics Conference at Sussex Workshopping Words and Opening Dialogues.
Keeping my hand in lexicology, I wrote the bibliography on Synonymy for Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics.
Among the talks I gave this year was my inaugural professorial lecture, titled Who Framed American English?
This looked at the 'mini moral panic' in the UK press about the
supposed Americanization of British English—the roots of the panic, the
myths and the facts, and what we can do as linguists to encourage
responsible reporting of language change. The content of that lecture
contributes to one of several articles I'm working on now.
Besides that, I'm finishing up a journal article on dictionary culture and another on thanking and a textbook chapter on American English. I look forward to sharing those on this blog in future. I'm also giving talks in the Brighton area and beyond. If you make it to any of them, please say 'hello'!
Besides that, I'm finishing up a journal article on dictionary culture and another on thanking and a textbook chapter on American English. I look forward to sharing those on this blog in future. I'm also giving talks in the Brighton area and beyond. If you make it to any of them, please say 'hello'!
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