Overview
Explore your own interests in English language and linguistics with our PhD programme, supported by the expertise of our staff.
Find out more about teaching options and studying during COVID-19 in the Entry requirements section, below.
Full description
You’ll be allocated two supervisors, with additional staff members available if necessary. We have PhD supervisors with experience in most areas of English language and linguistics including, for example, multilingualism, second language acquisition, comparative and theoretical syntax, Romance linguistics, linguistic minorities, the construction of linguistic, ethnic and cultural identities, and empirical approaches to the study of language.
You’ll conduct your research in a collaborative environment with strong links to a number of other centres in the University and the wider community. We host and take part in many research oriented events for staff and postgraduate students, including our regular Faculty and departmental research seminars and international conferences. Our seminars will give you the chance to present papers in a supportive setting.
We’re also key contributors to the Anglia Ruskin-Cambridge University (ARC) Romance Linguistics Seminar, who organise many talks you’ll be welcome to attend, or even contribute to. These events, along with our online environment, will help you connect with other research students from a range of disciplines.
Supervision and Support
Our permanent supervisory staff are recognised experts in their field, and have produced a number of influential books, journal articles and edited collections. Our research expertise includes:
Dr Sebastian Rasinger, BA, PG Cert, PhD: sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, multilingualism, linguistic and cultural identities.
Melanie Bell, MPhil (Cantab), MA (Cantab), DipTEFL: the empirical study of language: experimental, corpus-based and computational approaches to phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
Dr Bettina Beinhoff, BA (Cantab), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Cantab): acquisition of second/foreign language phonology, linguistic and cultural identities (especially attitudes, stereotypes and identity construction in multilingual contexts and dialect contact situations) and sociolinguistic aspects of constructed languages.
Dr Michelle Sheehan, BA (Oxon), MA, PhD, PCGE: comparative and theoretical syntax, Romance linguistics, language contact and change, philosophy of language, artificial languages.
Dr Vahid Parvaresh, BA, MA, PhD: societal Pragmatics, interlanguage/L2 pragmatics, (im)politeness, historical pragmatics, linguistic landscape.
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