Research in Linguistics
The research strengths of Linguistics at UNE are:
- language description and typology
- lexical and grammatical semantics
- sociolinguistics and pragmatics
- language contact
- critical approaches to TESOL
- language and social justice
- psycholinguistics of second language processing
Particular language interests include English (including non-standard varieties), Australian Aboriginal languages, Pacific languages, African languages, Japanese, and Hindi.
Below is a list of the current research projects and areas of supervision of the individual staff members.
INES ANTON-MENDEZ
Current research projects:
- The genetic basis of second language acquisition looking at twins
- First and second language acquisition of pronoun gender and number agreement
- Salience effects on sentence structure in the second language production
Areas of supervision:
- Psycholinguistics of language production
- Psycholinguistics of second language acquisition
- Quantitative investigations on TESOL
LIZ ELLIS
Current research projects:
- The TESOL teacher as plurilingual
- Bilingualism in the bush: reconceptualising ‘speech community’ in immigrant family language maintenance in regional Australia
- Bilingual identities: case study of a Spanish-speaking family in Australia
- Language awareness in second language learning and teaching
- Aboriginal English in early childhood settings
Areas of supervision:
- Plurilingual identities in TESOL
- Language awareness in education and other professional practice
- Bilingual and multilingual family language maintenance and identities
- Monolingual policies and practices in social and educational settings
- Aboriginal English in educational settings
- Second language learning and teaching
- Language teacher cognition
- Bi/multilingual education
- Selected topics in sociolinguistics
- Interpreting practices
- Language in public discourse
FINEX NDHLOVU
Current research projects:
- Mapping the Language Practices of Post-refugee African Migrants in regional Australia
- An Encyclopedia of the Social and political History of the Languages of Southern Africa (5 year edited book project for Palgrave Macmillan)
- Beyond Multiculturalism and Toward a Superdiversity Approach: African Cultures and Identities in Australia (Monograph proposal with Monash University Press)
Areas of supervision:
- Language policy and politics
- Language and superdiversity
- Discourses on ‘language’ and language definition traditions in linguistically diverse contexts
- Multilingualism and multilingual education
- Language assessment for the determination of origin and citizenship;
- Narratives of cultural difference and belonging
- Ethnic anguage maintenance and attitudes towards heritage languages
- Language, globalisation and trans-nationalism
- Language and intercultural communication – beliefs and practices
- Migrant language practices in rural and regional contexts
- Multilingualism and multilingual discourses – beliefs, practices, myths and fallacies
- English monolingualism and attitudes towards multilingualism
- Language-in-education policy and literacy
NICK REID
Current research projects:
- Djanba song traditions at Wadeye
- Verb classifier systems in southern Daly languages
- A multimedia documentation of Ngan'gi, a language of Australia's Northern Territory
Areas of supervision:
- Language description
- Morphological and syntactic typology
- Nominal and verbal classification
- Language maintenance and documentation
- Historical and comparative Aboriginal linguistics
- Sign languages
CINDY SCHNEIDER
Current research projects:
- Dialect variation in Abma (Vanuatu)
- Literacy practices of indigenous communities in Melanesia (Vanuatu and PNG)
- Documentation and description of Kairak (East New Britain Province, PNG)
Areas of supervision:
- Description/documentation of Pacific languages
- Social uses of literacy
- Language and literacy maintenance in multilingual contexts
For more information about each of us, consult the pages on individual staff members.