糖心TV

Convenors: Holly Warner, Dr Clay Becker

When: Every Wednesday, 16:00-17:00 BST/GMT, Weeks 2-9 of Term (14th October 2026 - 2nd December 2026)

Where: A0.23 (Social Sciences Building, University of 糖心TV) and Microsoft Teams (linked below)

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Please note:

Seminar on 4th November 2026 is held on Microsoft Teams ONLY

Seminar on 2nd December is held in A1.11 (Social Sciences Building, University of 糖心TV) and Microsoft Teams (linked below)

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Wednesday 14/10/2026 - 16:00-17:00 BST

TITLE TBC

Dr Suzanne Aussems, University of 糖心TV

Abstract

TBC

Bio

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Wednesday 21/10/2026 - 16:00-17:00 BST

Western Irish English in Fiction

Christophe Coup茅-Jamet, Florent Chevalier, Airelle Th茅veniaut

Abstract

This presentation explores a fictional, close-knit linguistic community set on the island of Inisherin, off the west coast of Ireland. Martin McDonagh鈥檚 film, The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), depicts the insular life of the islanders, offering a productive entry point for examining fictional linguistic representations of Western Irish English.

The study focuses on six central characters (P谩draic S煤illeabh谩in, Colm Doherty, Siobh谩n S煤illeabh谩in, Dominic Kearney, Garda Peadar Kearney, and Mrs McCormick) to test the hypothesis that close-knit island communities are more likely to exhibit a uniform linguistic system (Schreier 2003), while also employing non-standard phonetic variants to index Irish insularity (Milroy 2008).

Following the extraction of the film鈥檚 soundtrack, acoustic and auditory analyses were conducted using Praat. Each feature was annotated on a separate tier to facilitate data extraction. Drawing on the literature on Western Irish English (Henry 1958; Hickey 2007; Kallen 2013; 脫 h脷rdail 1997; Peters 2012, 2016; Tallon 2022), the following variables were examined: schwa epenthesis in coda consonant clusters (such as /lm/, /ln/, /rm/, /rn/, and /rl/), slit-t, dental stops, FACE and GOAT monophthongs, and the distribution of falling, rise-falling, and rising intonation contours.

References

Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2025). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.4.44, retrieved 25 September 2025 from.

Harris, J. (1993). 鈥淭he Grammar of Irish English鈥�, in J. Milroy and L. Milroy (Eds.) Real English: the Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles.

Henry, P. L. (1958). 鈥淎 Linguistic Survey of Ireland: Preliminary Report鈥�, in Norsk Tidskrit for Sprogvidenskab 1, 49-208. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Hickey, R. (2007). Irish English: History and Present-Day Forms. Cambridge: University Press.

Kallen, J. L. (2013). Irish English Volume 2: The Republic of Ireland. Boston and Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

McDonagh, M. (2022). The Banshees of Inisherin. Searchlight Pictures, TSG Entertainment Blueprint Pictures, Film4.

Milroy, L. (2008). 鈥淪ocial Networks鈥�, in J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill and N. Schilling-Estes (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 549-572. Malden: Blackwell.

O鈥橠wyer, F. (2019). 鈥淪lit-t in Dublin English鈥�, in J.-A. Villena-Ponsoda, F. D铆az Montesinos, A. M. 脕vila-Mu帽oz, and M. Vida-Castro (Eds.), Language Variation鈥擡uropean Perspectives VII: Selected papers from the Ninth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 9), Malaga, June 2017, 159-174. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

脫 h脷rdail, R. (1997a). 鈥淐onfusion of Dentality and Alveolarity in Dialects of Hiberno-English鈥�, in J. Kallen (Ed.), Focus on Ireland, 133-152. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.

Tallon, K. (2022). 鈥淒RESS-raising in Connemara English: Shedding Light on the Role of Irish鈥�, ExLing 2022, 165-168.

Peters, A. (2012). 鈥淟inguistic change in Galway City English: A Study of Phonological Features in the District of B贸thar M贸r鈥�, in B. Migge and M. N铆 Chios谩in (Eds.) New Perspectives on Irish English, 29-46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.

Peters, A. (2016). Linguistic change in Galway City English. A Variationist Sociolinguistic Study of (th) and (dh) in Urban Western Irish English. Peter Lang Edition: Lausanne.

Schreier, D. (2003). 鈥淚nsularity and linguistic endemicity鈥�, Journal of English Linguistics, 31(3), 249-272.

Bio

Christophe Coup茅-Jamet is a lecturer in English Linguistics at the Faculty of International and Intercultural Studies (Facult茅 des 脡tudes Internationales et Interculturelles 鈥� FE2i) at CY Cergy Paris University, and a member of the LT2D research group (Lexiques, Textes, Discours, Dictionnaires 鈥� EA 7518). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Spoken Englishes 鈥� Journal in English Variation Studies, as well as a Sub-Editor for the international Scopus-indexed journal Lexis 鈥� Journal in English Lexicology.

His research focuses on Irish English, with a particular focus on Dublin English, bridging the fields of phonology, phonetics, sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, and perceptual dialectology.

He has also worked in lexicology and discourse analysis in specialized contexts, with a particular focus on the discursive conceptualization of mental illness and ageing.

christophe.coupe@u-cergy.fr

Wednesday 04/11/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT ONLINE ONLY

Critical imagination, AI futures and education

Prof Jen Ross, University of Edinburgh

Abstract

To build decent futures for AI in education, we have to recognise and work critically with many future visions and imaginaries of AI already around us. These futures are in the form of promises and predictions made influential by their uptake in the media, in policy and in educational practices. But they are also in the form of the voices and perspectives of researchers, teachers and learners, whose views of the future of education 鈥� hopeful, resigned, dystopian, critical and more 鈥� give us a range of different possibilities to work with. Drawing on findings from several research projects using speculative approaches for exploring education futures, this talk will explore AI in education as a situation of 鈥榥ot-yetness鈥�, where expectation and uncertainty combine. The complexity that results from this not-yetness gives us space to encounter possibilities that open up critical imagination and keep the future moving.

Bio

Jen Ross is Professor of Digital Culture and Education Futures at the University of Edinburgh, where she is co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education and Associate Dean (Research Cultures) in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research interests include education and cultural heritage futures, emerging technologies (including Generative AI), open and online education, and the intersections of surveillance and trust. Her 2023 book, Digital Futures for Learning (Routledge), explores speculative approaches to researching and teaching about the future.

Wednesday 11/11/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT

What happens after the analysis? A workshop confronting what our research does in the world - and what it could do next

Dr Erika Darics, CLAMAC, University of Groningen

Abstract

Linguists, sociolinguists and discourse analysts have powerful tools for showing how language shapes social realities. We know that language matters, but what happens after the analysis? Who needs to know what our research has revealed - and what could they do with that knowledge?

This interactive workshop introduces Critical Language Awareness (CLA) as a practical framework that extends scholarly work from analytical insight into teaching, professional practice, public engagement and real-world impact. CLA helps us translate what we know about language into opportunities for others to notice how meaning is made. In doing so, people can recognise the assumptions and power relations embedded in discourse, reflect on their own communicative practices, and develop the agency to do things differently.

We have two exciting case studies in store. The first reports on our CLAMAC project exploring why entrepreneurship education urgently needs the magic touch of critical discourse analysts - and why CLA belongs in its curricula. The second shows that even a field as seemingly distant as space science can benefit from a CLA lens. We will also draw on other impact activities (a wild ride from online learning platforms to theatre stages).

You will have a go at 鈥淐LA-fying" your research: to think about how your own work might be extended, who could benefit from it, and what you want that audience to notice. We will also discuss how your research findings can be transformed into a teaching activity, public resource, professional intervention or another form of impact.

Come with a research project. Leave with an idea for what it could do next.

If you have time, please read:

Darics, E., Staschen, O., Drury, M., Chojnicka, J., Mazzoli, M., Olthof, J., Serafis, D., & Wildfeuer, J. (2025). Critical Language Awareness as a future imperative: Seeing the 鈥渨ater鈥�. Frontiers in Communication, 10, 1623193. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1623193

And/or watch:

Bio

CLAMAC - Critical Language and Multimodal Awareness Competence is an NRO /Dutch national agency/ project, funded under the scheme 鈥淗igher Education for the future鈥�. It empowers future professionals with critical thinking and analytical skills essential for transformative change. The project develops a toolkit with educational materials and evidence-based methods to integrate CLMA into higher education curricula. Beyond equipping students, the project aims to inspire broader curriculum reform, demonstrating the transformative power of language and communication in building a sustainable, equitable future.

Wednesday 18/11/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT

Exploring teacher CPD in the ether: How rural Chinese English teachers experience online professional development webinars in English

Fraser Bewick, University of 糖心TV

Abstract

This presentation explores how English teachers working in rural and low-resource areas across mainland China experience English-medium professional development webinars provided by the British Council. While English-medium resources can provide access to perspectives and ideas not readily available through local CPD, using English as the medium may also create barriers to engagement, whether perceived or actual. Online CPD offers opportunities to overcome geographical barriers faced by rural teachers, but access does not necessarily mean that teachers can engage with or benefit from it.

Drawing on data from three authentic, publicly available webinars, the presentation examines teachers鈥� engagement and experiences, focusing on comprehension, relevance, participation and perceived value. It identifies factors that support or constrain engagement and considers practical ways of making English-medium online CPD more accessible. These findings form part of a wider mixed-methods study seeking to identify the underlying mechanisms influencing teachers鈥� perceptions and experiences of online English-medium CPD.

Bio

Fraser Bewick is originally from Glasgow, Scotland. He has worked in English Language Teaching (ELT) for over 20 years, primarily in China and Southeast Asia. A former academic manager and trainer with the British Council, Fraser has worked across public school and higher education contexts both in ELT and English-Medium Instruction (EMI). He remains involved in national textbook development in China and currently also supports teacher educator communities through British Council Meta platforms. Fraser holds a DELTA and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and is currently a PhD candidate in ELT and Applied Linguistics at the University of 糖心TV.

Wednesday 25/11/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT

TITLE TBC

SPEAKER TBC

Abstract

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Bio

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Wednesday 02/12/2026 - 16:00-17:00 GMT ROOM A1.11

TITLE TBC

Prof Olympia Palikara, University of 糖心TV

Abstract

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Bio

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See the recordings of our previous seminars here (please note that not all seminars are recorded):

See the list of our previous seminars here: