Research interests

discourse-pragmatics, spoken French, sociolinguistic variation and change, age-grading

Thesis abstract

My research focuses on selected discourse features of spoken French, especially those typical of present-day youth language. The dissertation has two main parts: 

1. 1)Analysis of features typical of spoken language, based on my corpus of recorded data from young people aged 20 to 30, speaking to each other in spontaneous informal conversations. The analysis focuses particularly on features with discourse-pragmatic functions, including discourse markers, general extenders, presentational constructions and dislocated structures. I also address the question of how some of these typically spoken features develop in French youth language and the extent to which they may be considered innovative.
   

2. 2)Discussion of the role of spoken language in foreign language teaching and learning, based partly on the results of a questionnaire for university learners of French as a foreign language aimed at investigating their knowledge of spoken features. This section addresses the question of whether features of spoken language generally, and of youth language in particular, are available to foreign learners.
   

Publications

(In preparation)   ‘Le discours rapporté direct chez les jeunes français : entre théâtralisation

                            et atténuation’

(Under review)    ‘Je sais et tout mais ... might the general extenders in European French be

                            changing?’ Queen Mary’s  Occasional Papers Advancing Linguistics, n.25.

                            (Submitted to the Journal of French Language Studies)  ACCESS IT HERE

(2012)                 (REVIEW) Kern, F. and Selting, M. (eds) (2011) Ethnic Styles of Speaking in

                           European Metropolitan Areas.  Amsterdam/Philadelphia (John Benjamins).

                           ACCESS IT HERE

(2011)                 ‘Discourse‐pragmatic features of spoken French: analysis and pedagogical

                           implications.’ PhD thesis, Queen Mary, U. of London.     ACCESS IT HERE

Invited talks and conference presentations

06/ 2012            ‘Français multiculturel de Paris – anglais multiculturel de Londres : aspects de

                           changement.’ (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Louvain, Belgium)

06/ 2012            (with Penelope Gardner-Chloros)  ‘Change in Paris French and London English:

                          multicultural, socially determined and universal aspects’  (Association for

                          French Language Studies annual conference, Newcastle, UK)

04/ 2012            ‘Stability or change?   The general extender system in contemporary spoken

                           French’ (DiPVaC 2012 conference, University of Salford, UK)

03/ 2012            ‘L'anglais multiculturel de Londres : résultats, spécificités et questions de

                           comparabilité.’ (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, FR)

09/ 2011             (with Penelope Gardner-Chloros) ‘Contact-induced change in monolingual and

                           bilingual speech.’ Langues en contact: le français à travers le monde (Halle, DE)

         

09/ 2009:           ‘Genre: an interesting means of expression (Association for French Language

                           Studies annual conference, Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

Teaching

2011-2012        I have taught thematic sessions on a range of linguistic subjects, including

                         ‘Pragmatics’ (BA ‘Language and Mind’ Module, BBK), ‘Innovation and change in

                          youth language’ (BA ‘Sociolinguistic variation and Change’ module, QMUL),

                         ‘Linguistic innovation and change’ (BA ‘Introduction to Sociolinguistics’ and MA 

                         ‘Sociolinguistics’ Module, BBK), ‘La différenciation sociolinguistique selon l’âge’

                         (BA ‘French Sociolinguistics’ module, QMUL), ‘Les parlers jeunes’ (BA ‘French

                          Sociolinguistics’ module, QMUL). During my studies in Paris, I taught English at

                          the Francs-Bourgeois and Fénelon Sainte-Marie primary and secondary school.

                         

Education

PhD                 Linguistics, Queen Mary, University of London (2007-2010). Dissertation title:

                       ‘Discourse-pragmatic features of spoken French: analysis and pedagogical

                        implications.’ Supervisor: Prof. Jenny Cheshire  /  2nd supervisor: Dr. Leigh Oakes

MA II               Sciences du langage, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre (2005-2006)

MA  I               Translation and interpreting, Comenius University Bratislava (2000-2005)

                        Specialisation: English and French

Grants

2007 – 2010     Queen Mary University of London PhD Maintenance Grant & AHRC Doctoral

                         Research Grant  (PhD)

     

2005 – 2006      French Government Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies,  (M.A. Université

                          Paris Ouest Nanterre)

              

Languages                                                          Links                                                       

Slovak (native)                                                     Current project:  www.mle-mpf.bbk.ac.uk

English (fluent)                                                  

French (fluent)