phd linguistics lancaster university

Linguistics PhD Lancaster University

• On campus - h Main Site
• Oct 1, 2024 Full-time - 36 Months
• Oct 1, 2024 Part-time - 48 Months

Key Course Facts

• Admission advice for international students

Course Description

We welcome proposals for doctoral research across any area of linguistics that falls within our expertise. These include but are not limited to:

• Cognitive Linguistics
• Corpus Linguistics
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• First Language Acquisition
• Forensic Linguistics
• Historical/Diachronic Linguistics
• Language Testing
• Linguistic Typology
• Literacy Studies
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistic
• Sociolinguistics
• Speech Science and Technology
• Second Language Learning and Teaching

If you pursue doctoral research in linguistics at Lancaster you will join a research-intensive department with a large community of doctoral students and a number of different research groups. This provides a rich, stimulating and supportive environment in which to conduct your research with lots of opportunities to share your research with others. The department also hosts an annual postgraduate conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching.

You will work independently under the guidance of one or more supervisors or as part of a team. You may also benefit from additional research methods and academic skills training provided by the faculty Research Training Programme (offered on-site and by distance learning).

You will be fully supported throughout your studies as you move through key milestones in the PhD process.

Option to study full time (36 months) or part time (48 months)

Study on campus in Lancaster or by distance

Opportunity to undertake additional research methods and academic skills training provided by the faculty Research Training Programme

Submit in traditional or alternative (by research article) format

Assessment Methods

Entry requirements / admissions, requirements for international students / english requirements.

IELTS academic test score (similar tests may be accepted as well)

• Graduate Degrees
• Undergraduate Degrees

Master's degree (UK or equivalent) in a subject relevant to the proposed research, with an average of at least 60% for UK MAs.

2: 1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a related subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education.

As part of your application you will also need to provide a viable research proposal. Guidance for writing a research proposal can be found on the department's PhD study page.

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.5 in reading and writing and 6.0 in listening and speaking. We also consider other English language qualifications.

Average student cost of living in the UK

London costs approx 34% more than average, mainly due to rent being 67% higher than average of other cities. For students staying in student halls, costs of water, gas, electricity, wifi are generally included in the rental. Students in smaller cities where accommodation is in walking/biking distance transport costs tend to be significantly smaller.

University Rankings

Positions of lancaster university in top uk and global rankings., about lancaster university.

Lancaster University was established in 1964 and is located in the rural setting of Lancaster. The campus provides a series of amenities, including banks and a post office. Academically, all of this university’s courses and programmes are accredited and approved by MARP, ensuring that the curriculums delivered here are set at a high standard. In terms of facilities, students have access to a variety of study and recreational spaces intended to improve their wellbeing, such as Meditation and Tai Chi classes, and Woodland walks.

List of 452 Bachelor and Master Courses from Lancaster University - Course Catalogue

Student composition of Lancaster University

Where is this programme taught.

Similar courses

ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science

Fully Funded PhD Studentship in Linguistics at Lancaster University

The Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK is delighted to offer a fully funded PhD studentship (UK home-rate fee) as part of the UKRI-funded project, ‘Public Discourses of Dementia: Challenging Stigma and Promoting Personhood’.

The aim of this project is to challenge dementia stigma by changing the ways in which dementia is discussed in the public domain, focusing in particular on the mainstream media, public health bodies and charities in the UK. This project will explore the language and imagery that are used to represent dementia in texts produced by these organisations and compare these against those used by the general public to talk about dementia on social media and by people living with dementia when giving first-hand accounts of their lives with the syndrome. The project team will work closely with media, public health and charity organisations to implement changes to communicative practices around dementia in ways that challenge stigma and promote personhood, through the development of communication guidelines and the delivery of training to public communicators from charities, the media, research and public health. Crucially, the project team will collaborate closely with people with dementia themselves to ensure that their voices are heard and valued not only in future public discourse but also in the research process itself. The Project team will be led by Dr Gavin Brookes and supported by Professor Tony McEnery. The project will also be supported by an externally based academic advisory committee. You can read more about the project here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/new-research-fellowship-team-to-examine-language-about-dementia .

We are seeking to recruit a strong and enthusiastic PhD candidate with demonstrable knowledge and interest in at least two of the following areas: corpus linguistics; multimodal (visual) discourse analysis; health communication. The successful candidate should hold a Master’s degree in linguistics or a related area. However, clearly outstanding and particularly well-suited candidates who have completed a first degree will be considered. Candidates may be invited to interview (dates and format to be confirmed).

This studentship is open to students eligible for UK Home fees only (for more information, see: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-courses/research-fees/ ).

If you are interested in this opportunity, by way of application please email Gavin Brookes ( [email protected] ) with the following:

• A short CV (max 2 pages) outlining your qualifications, achievements and publications (if applicable)
• A personal statement describing your suitability to the project (focusing in particular on your knowledge and skills, including relating to methodological approaches) (max. 500 words)
• An example of your writing (either an assignment or chapter from a dissertation)

Start date: October 2022 (or as soon as possible thereafter)

Duration: 3 years

Application deadline: 31 st May 2022

Funding information: A stipend of £15,609 for 22/23, which will increase each year in line with the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) rate, plus Home-rate fee allowance of £4,500 (with automatic increase to UKRI rate each year). The successful candidate will also have access to a generous training and conference budget.

Gavin Brookes

Linguistics PhD

Want to know what it's like to study this course at uni? We've got all the key info, from entry requirements to the modules on offer. If that all sounds good, why not check out reviews from real students or even book onto an upcoming open days ?

Different course options

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Lancaster University

Select a course option

Select a subject

Select a an exam type

Select student location

Course info

Entry requirements, tuition fees, latest reviews.

Complete your PhD with world-leading experts in Linguistics and be part of a thriving department that is ranked 3rd in the world for Linguistics (QS world rankings 2024).

We welcome proposals for doctoral research across any area of linguistics that falls within our expertise. These include but are not limited to:

Cognitive Linguistics

Corpus Linguistics

Critical Discourse Analysis

First Language Acquisition

Forensic Linguistics

Historical/Diachronic Linguistics

Language Testing

Linguistic Typology

Literacy Studies

Phonetics and Phonology

Psycholinguistic

Sociolinguistics

Speech Science and Technology

Second Language Learning and Teaching

If you pursue doctoral research in linguistics at Lancaster you will join a research-intensive department with a large community of doctoral students and a number of different research groups. This provides a rich, stimulating and supportive environment in which to conduct your research with lots of opportunities to share your research with others. The department also hosts an annual postgraduate conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching.

You will work independently under the guidance of one or more supervisors or as part of a team. You may also benefit from additional research methods and academic skills training provided by the faculty Research Training Programme (offered on-site and by distance learning).

You will be fully supported throughout your studies as you move through key milestones in the PhD process.

What students say

never been.. Read more

Best - the people are very friendly and welcoming. The events have been good and the facilities are useful Worst - at the Costa, I feel that the workers are sometimes a bit.. Read more

Students need to have master's degree (UK or equivalent) in a subject relevant to the proposed research, with an average of at least 60% for UK MAs. 2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a related subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education.

Students living in

£4,786 per year

Students from Domestic

This is the fee you pay if the University is in the same country that you live in (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)

£21,082 per year

Students from EU

The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from somewhere in the EU.

Students from International

The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from a country outside the EU.

Latest Linguistics reviews

Review breakdown, how all students rated:.

Bailrigg Lancaster Lancashire LA1 4YW

Other courses you may like

SOAS University of London

University of Bedfordshire

City, University of London

Find a course

• Undergraduate
• Foundation degree
• Access & foundation
• Postgraduate

YOUR UCAS POINTS 0

Please wait

Our cookies

We use cookies for three reasons: to give you the best experience on PGS, to make sure the PGS ads you see on other sites are relevant , and to measure website usage. Some of these cookies are necessary to help the site work properly and can’t be switched off. Cookies also support us to provide our services for free, and by click on “Accept” below, you are agreeing to our use of cookies .You can manage your preferences now or at any time.

Privacy overview

We use cookies, which are small text files placed on your computer, to allow the site to work for you, improve your user experience, to provide us with information about how our site is used, and to deliver personalised ads which help fund our work and deliver our service to you for free.

The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalised web experience.

You can accept all, or else manage cookies individually. However, blocking some types of cookies may affect your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

You can change your cookies preference at any time by visiting our Cookies Notice page. Please remember to clear your browsing data and cookies when you change your cookies preferences. This will remove all cookies previously placed on your browser.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, or how to clear your browser cookies data see our Cookies Notice

Manage consent preferences

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

They are essential for you to browse the website and use its features.

You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. We can’t identify you from these cookies.

Functional cookies

These help us personalise our sites for you by remembering your preferences and settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers, whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, then these services may not function properly.

Performance cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and see where our traffic comes from, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are popular and see how visitors move around the site. The cookies cannot directly identify any individual users.

If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site and will not be able to improve its performance for you.

Marketing cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by social media services or our advertising partners. Social media cookies enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They can track your browser across other sites and build up a profile of your interests. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to see or use the content sharing tools.

Advertising cookies may be used to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but work by uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will still see ads, but they won’t be tailored to your interests.

Linguistics (by thesis and coursework) PhD

Lancaster university, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Linguistics

Course type

Take your PhD with one of the best Linguistics departments in the world. We are ranked 3rd in the world for Linguistics in the QS World Rankings 2024.

This PhD programme understands Applied Linguistics as research into language with a relevance to real-world issues and proposals are accepted in a wide range of topics. By combining your PhD studies with a set of taught modules, this programme is designed to broaden your knowledge of relevant research and research methodologies. Many of our students are professionals who are balancing PhD studies with full-time careers, and this contributes to the rich and stimulating academic environment this programme offers.

The programme is designed for you to simultaneously complete your coursework and develop your thesis. In your first year of study you will complete compulsory modules in research methodology and in applied linguistics that are taught by distance. In addition, you have the opportunity to take additional modules from the department’s MA programmes and the Faculty’s Research Training Programme with a choice of modules either on-campus or by distance.

One of the strengths of this programme is the flexibility it allows in pursuing your PhD – you have the choice to either study on campus in Lancaster, or from home. You may study full-time or part-time but have the option to switch at any point during your studies. The compulsory modules in research methodology and linguistics are taught online, while for MA modules there is a choice of both on-site and distance learning available.

Regardless whether you study in Lancaster or from home, you must attend two intensive residentials at Lancaster University in the first two years of your studies. During this time you will have the opportunity to complete a portion of the coursework, participate in a graduate student conference, and engage in a range of professional and academic development activities such as sessions on academic writing, presentation skills, and career development as well as attend workshops offered by the university library.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Master's degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a related subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education, with an overall average of at least 60% for UK MAs. 2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a releated subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education.

MA Linguistics

Soas university of london, phd in linguistics, mphil in linguistics, ma history of art and architecture of the islamic middle east and intensive language (turkish), ma linguistics and intensive language (turkish).

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We'd also like to set optional cookies to help us measure web traffic and report on campaigns.

We won't set optional cookies unless you enable them.

Cookie settings

Linguistics (by thesis and coursework)

• Entry year 2024
• Duration Full time 36 Months, Part time 60 Months

Top reasons to study with us

Boost your CV with a higher level degree from a world-class department

2nd in the UK for Overall Research Quality, in Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021)

World top three for Linguistics (QS World University Subject Rankings 2024)

Take your PhD with one of the best Linguistics departments in the world. We are ranked 3rd in the world for Linguistics in the QS World Rankings 2024.

This PhD programme understands Applied Linguistics as research into language with a relevance to real-world issues and proposals are accepted in a wide range of topics. By combining your PhD studies with a set of taught modules, this programme is designed to broaden your knowledge of relevant research and research methodologies. Many of our students are professionals who are balancing PhD studies with full-time careers, and this contributes to the rich and stimulating academic environment this programme offers.

The programme is designed for you to simultaneously complete your coursework and develop your thesis. In your first year of study you will complete compulsory modules in research methodology and in applied linguistics that are taught by distance. In addition, you have the opportunity to take additional modules from the department’s MA programmes and the Faculty’s Research Training Programme with a choice of modules either on-campus or by distance.

One of the strengths of this programme is the flexibility it allows in pursuing your PhD – you have the choice to either study on campus in Lancaster, or from home. You may study full-time or part-time but have the option to switch at any point during your studies. The compulsory modules in research methodology and linguistics are taught online, while for MA modules there is a choice of both on-site and distance learning available.

Regardless whether you study in Lancaster or from home, you must attend two intensive residentials at Lancaster University in the first two years of your studies. During this time you will have the opportunity to complete a portion of the coursework, participate in a graduate student conference, and engage in a range of professional and academic development activities such as sessions on academic writing, presentation skills, and career development as well as attend workshops offered by the university library.

• Option to study full time (36 months) or part time (60 months)
• Study on campus in Lancaster or off-campus from home
• 4 compulsory study modules – 2 in research methods and 2 in applied linguistics
• Opportunity to take additional modules from the department’s MA programmes
• 2 intensive residentials at the department in Lancaster

Your department

• Linguistics and English Language Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Entry requirements

Academic requirements.

Master's degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a related subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education, with an overall average of at least 60% for UK MAs.

2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics or a related subject, for example Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Education.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Additional Requirements

As part of your application you also need to complete the 'PhD in Linguistics by Thesis and Coursework Proposal Form' . A copy of the form and guidance notes can be found on the Research Proposal section of our PhD study webpage.

English Language Requirements

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.5 in reading and writing and 6.0 in listening and speaking. We also consider other English language qualifications .

We do not offer pre-sessional English language programmes for this programme.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email [email protected]

Fees and funding

General fees and funding information

There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.

Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.

College fees

Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee  which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.

For students starting in 2023 and 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.

Computer equipment and internet access

To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated  IT support helpdesk  is available in the event of any problems.

The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.

For most taught postgraduate applications there is a non-refundable application fee of £40. We cannot consider applications until this fee has been paid, as advised on our online secure payment system. There is no application fee for postgraduate research applications.

For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.

The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your  fee status .

If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, the tuition fees for subsequent years of your programme are likely to increase each year. Read more about  fees in subsequent years .

Scholarships and bursaries

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities .

We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries .

Similar courses

English language, linguistics and tesol.

• Applied Linguistics and TESOL MA
• Corpus Linguistics (Distance) MA
• Corpus Linguistics (Distance) PgCert
• Discourse Studies MA
• Forensic Linguistics and Speech Science MSc
• Intercultural Communication MA
• Language and Linguistics MA
• Language Testing (Distance) MA
• Language Testing (Distance) PgCert
• Linguistics PhD
• TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) (Distance) PgCert
• TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) with Corpus Linguistics (Distance) MA
• TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) with Language Testing (Distance) MA

Important Information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2024/2025 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information .

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies .

Why Lancaster?

League tables and reputation

A highly-ranked university with a global reputation.

Colleges and community

Your college will be your home away from home.

Careers and employability

Career support for our students through university and beyond.

Student life

Lancaster has so much to offer. On our campus, in our city and in our community, you’ll find your place – whoever you are.

Where is Lancaster?

Lancaster is easy to get to and surrounded by natural beauty.

The campus and the city

Our campus and the surrounding area is a great place to call home.

Your global experience

Build your global community on campus and around the world.

Wellbeing and support

Services to help you fulfil your potential at Lancaster.

We have over 12,000 students across one of the safest campuses in the UK

92% of Lancaster University graduates go into work or further study

• Research at Lancaster
• Researchers
• Departments & Centres

Publications & Outputs

• English Language and Linguistics

Affiliations

DisTex - Discourse and Text Research Group

ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science

UCREL - University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language

Current Postgraduate Research Students

Paul Baker supervises 5 postgraduate research students. If these students have produced research profiles, these are listed below:

Student research profiles

Scarlett Sijia Li

Professor paul baker, publications.

• PhD Students

• Linguistics and English Language

Lancaster University

County South

E-mail: Show email

Research overview

Corpus linguistics, particularly in relation to discourse analysis or critical discourse analysis, or recent diachronic change. Representation of identity, especially gender and sexuality. Analysis of news or online corpora.

PhD supervision

I have supervised PhD students on the following topics:

Construction of Islam in the BBC sitcom Citizen Khan Metrosexuality in Malaysia Discourses of infertility in blogs, news and clinic websites Representation of dialect in fiction

Children's books containing same-sex parent families

Language around schizophrenia in the British press

Previous PhDs I have supervised include: A corpus-based examination of the concept of political correctness in British broadsheet newspapers The language of marriage rituals in Botswana Combining corpus approaches and CDA to examine discourses of terrorism in the British and Chinese popular press Combining corpus approaches and CDA to examine discourses of homophobia in a right-wing political organisation A corpus study to compare lexical bundle use of Chinese learners of English with native speakers of English A corpus study of keywords to examine gender identity in British and Malaysian children's writing The construction of gender identity in Iranian bloggers A corpus-based comparison of two academic books about Wahhabi Islam

Research Interests

My research interests include corpus linguistics, language and identities and (critical) discourse analysis. Books include: Using Corpora to Analyse Gender (2014), Discourse Analysis and Media Attitudes (2013), Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics (2010), Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality  (2008), Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis (2006), Public Discourses of Gay Men (2005) and Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men (2002). I am the commissioning editor for the journal Corpora .

Collins, L. and Baker, P. (2023) Language, Discourse and Anxiety . Cambridge: CUP.

Baker, P. (2023) Using Corpora for Discourse Analysis . Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury.

Baker, P. (2023) Camp! The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World . London: Footnote Press

Gillings, M. Mautner, G. and Baker, P. (2023) Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies . Cambridge Elements: CUP.

Baker, P. (2022) Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT Education . London: Reaktion.

Brookes, G. and Baker, P. (2021) Obesity in the News: Language and Representation in the Press . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, P. Vessey, R. and McEnery, T. (2021) The Language of Violent Jihad . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Egbert, J. and Baker, P. (eds) (2019) Using Corpus Methods to Triangulate Linguistic Analysis . London: Routledge.

Baker, P. (2019) Fabulosa! The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language . London: Reaktion. Companion website .

Baker, P., Brookes, G. and Evans, C. (2019) The Language of Patient Feedback: A corpus linguistic study of online health communication. London: Routledge.

Baker, P. (2017) American and British English. Divided by a Common Language? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Publisher's Website

Baker, P. and Balirano, G. (eds) (2017) Queering Masculinities in Language and Culture . London: Palgrave. Publisher's Website

Baker, P. and Egbert, J. (eds) (2016) Triangulating Methodological Approaches in Corpus-Linguistic Research . London: Routledge.

Baker, P. and McEnery, T. (eds) (2015) Corpora and Discourse: Integrating Discourse and Corpora . London: Palgrave.

Baker, P. (2014) Using Corpora to Analyse Gender . London: Bloomsbury.

Baker, P. Gabrielatos, C. and McEnery. T. (2013) Discourse Analysis and Media Attitudes: The Representation of Islam in the British Press. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baker, P. and Ellece, S. (2011) Key Terms in Discourse Analysis . London: Continuum.

Baker, P. (2010) Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. More information

Baker, P. (ed.) (2009) Contemporary Corpus Linguistics . London: Continuum. More information

Baker, P. (2008) Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality . London: Exquinox. More information

Baker, P. (2006) Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis . London: Continuum. More information

Baker, P., Hardie, A. & McEnery, A. (2006) A Glossary of Corpus Linguistics . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Baker, P. (2005) Public Discourses of Gay Men. London: Routledge. More information

Baker, P. & Stanley, J. (2003) Hello Sailor! Seafaring life for gay men: 1945-1990 . London: Pearson. More information

Baker, P. (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang . London: Continuum. More information

Baker, P. (2002). Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men . London: Routledge. More information

I am commissioning editor of the journal Corpora published by Edinburgh University Press.

I am on the editorial board for the Journal of English Linguistics, the Journal of Language and Sexuality, Gender and Language, Applied Linguistics, Journalism and Discourse Studies, Text and Talk and Discourse Coherence, Cognition and Creativity.

Journal Articles

Baker, P. (2023) A year to remember? Introducing the BE21 corpus and exploring recent part of speech tag change in British English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics .

Baker, P. and Collins. L (2023) Creating and analysing a multimodal corpus of news texts with Google Cloud Vision's automatic image tagger . Applied Corpus Linguistics 3(1).

Egber, J. Wizner, S., Keller, D., Biber, D., McEnery, T. and Baker, P. (2021) Identifying and describing functional discourse units in the BNC Spoken 2014 . Text and Talk 41(5-6): 715-737. 

Brookes, G. and Baker, P. (2021) Patient feedback and duration of treatment: A corpus-based analysis of written comments on cancer care in England . Applied Corpus Linguistics 1(3). 

Heritage, F. and Baker, P. (2021) Crime or Culture? Representations of chemsex in the British press and magazines aimed at GBTQ+ men . Critical Discourse Studies . Published online 12 April 2021.

Brookes, G. and Baker, P. (2021) Fear and responsibility. Discourses of obesity and risk in the UK press . J ournal of Risk Research . Published online 5 January 2021. 

Baker, P. Brookes, G., Atanasova, D. and Flint, S. (2020) Changing frames of obesity in the UK press 2008-2017 . Social Science and Medicine 264. 

Baker, P. and Vessey, R. (2018) A corpus-driven comparison of English and French Islamist extremist texts. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 23(3): 255-278.

Brookes, G. and Baker, P. (2017) 'What does patient feedback reveal about the NHS? A mixed methods study of comments posted to the NHS Choices online service' . BMJ Open 7(4).

Paknahad Jaborooty, M. and Baker, P. (2017) 'Resisting silence: moments of empowerment in Iranian women's blogs'. Gender and Language 11(1): 77-99. 

Baker, P. (2016) 'The shapes of collocation. ' International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 21(2): 139-164.

Baker, P. and Levon, E. (2016) '"That's what I call a man": representations of racialised and classed masculinities in the UK print media. Gender and Language 10(1): 106-139.

Anthony, L. and Baker, P. (2015) 'ProtAnt: A tool for analysing the protoypicality of texts .' International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 20(3): 273-292.

Baker, P. (2015) 'Introduction to the Special Issue .' Discourse and Communication 9(2): 143-147.

Chen, Y-H., and Baker, P. (2015) 'Investigating criterial discourse features across second language development: lexical bundles in rated learner essays, CEFR B1, B2 and C1.' Applied Linguistics

Baker, P. and Levon, E. (2015) 'Picking the right cherries?: a comparison of corpus-based and qualitative analyses of news articles about masculnity .' Discourse and Communication 9(2): 221-336.

Baker, P. and Love, R. (2015) 'The hate that dare not speak its name? ' Journal of Language, Aggression and Conflict. 3(1): 57-86.

Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C. and McEnery T. (2013) ‘ Sketching Muslims: A corpus-driven analysis of representations around the word “Muslim” in the British press 1998-2009’ Applied Linguistics 34:3 255-78.

Baker, P. and Potts, A. (2013) '"Why do white people have thin lips?": Google and the perpetuation of stereotypes via auto-complete search forms." Critical Discourse Studies 10:2 187-204.

Baker, P. (2012) ‘From gay language to normative discourse: a diachronic corpus analysis of Lavender Linguistics conference abstracts 1994-201.’ Journal of Language and Sexuality 2:2 179-205.

Potts, A. and Baker. P. (2012) 'Does semantic tagging identify cultural change in British and American English?' International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 17:3 295-324.

Baker, P. (2012) 'Acceptable bias?: Using corpus linguistics methods with critical discourse analysis.' Critical Discourse Studies 9:3 247-256.

Gabrielatos, C., McEnery, T., Diggle, P., Baker. P. and ESRC (funder). (2012) 'The peaks and troughs of corpus-based contextual analysis.' International Journal of Corpus Linguistics . 17:2 151-175.

Baker, P. (2011) 'Times may change but we'll always have money: a corpus driven examination of vocabulary change in four diachronic corpora.' Journal of English Linguistics 39: 65-88 .

Baker, P. (2010) 'Will Ms ever be as frequent as Mr ? A corpus-based comparison of gendered terms across four diachronic corpora of British English.' Gender and Language 4.1: 125-129.

Chen, Y. and Baker, P. (2010) 'Lexical Bundles in L1 and L2 Academic Writing .' Language Learning and Technology . 14: 2 30-49.

Baker, P. (2010) 'Representations of Islam in British broadsheet and tabloid newspapers 1999-2005.' Language and Politics . 9:2 310-338.

Baker, P. (2009) 'The BE06 Corpus of British English and recent language change.' International Journal of Corpus Linguistics . 14:3 312-337.

Baker, P.,Gabrielatos, C., Khosravinik, M., Krzyzanowski, M., McEnery, T and Wodak, R. (2008) 'A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press.' Discourse and Society 19(3): 273-306.

Gabrielatos, C. and Baker, P. (2008) 'Fleeing, sneaking, flooding: a corpus analysis of discursive constructions of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK Press 1996-2005)' Journal of English Linguistics 36:1 pp. 5-38.

Baker, P. and McEnery, A. (2005) 'A corpus-based approach to discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in UN and newspaper texts.' Language and Politics 4:2 pp. 197-226(30).

Baker, P. Hardie, A. McEnery, A., Xiao, R., Bontcheva, K., Cunningham, H., Gaizauskas, R., Hamza, O., Maynard, D., Tablan, V., Ursu, C., Jayaram, B.D., Leisher, M. (2004) 'Corpus linguistics and South Asian languages: Corpus creation and tool development' , Literary and Linguistic Computing , Volume 19, Issue 4, pp 509-524.

Baker, P. (2004) 'Querying keywords: questions of difference, frequency and sense in keywords analysis. ' Journal of English Linguistics . 32: 4 pp 346-359.

Baker, P. (2004) '"Unnatural acts"' Discourses of homosexuality within the House of Lords debates on gay male law reform Sociolinguistics 8:1 88-106.

Baker, P. (2002) ' Construction of Gay Identity via Polari in the Julian and Sandy Radio Sketches ,' Lesbian and Gay Review , 3:3: pp 75-84.

Baker, P. (2001) ' Moral Panic and Alternative Identity Construction in Usenet '. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 7:1.

Baker, P. Lie, M., McEnery, A. and Sebba, M. (2000) 'Building a Corpus of Spoken Sylheti', Literary and Linguistic Computing , Volume 15, Issue 4, pp 419-431.

McEnery, A., Wilson, A.and Baker, P.(2000) 'Language teaching: corpus based help for teaching grammar', Journada de Corpus Linguistics , Volume 6, pp 65-77.

McEnery, A. Baker, P. Gaizauskas, R. & Cunningham, H. (2000) 'EMILLE: towards a corpus of South Asian languages', British Computing Society Machine Translation Specialist Group , London, pp 11-1 - 11-9.

McEnery, A. Wilson, A.and Baker, P. (1997) 'Teaching Grammar Again after Twenty Years: Corpus based help for grammar teaching.' New Approaches to Grammar Teaching, RECALL Journal , Volume 9, Number 2, pp 8-17.

Baker, P., McEnery, A.and Wilson, A. (1995) 'A brief report on a statistical analysis of corpus-based versus traditional human-teaching methods of part-of-speech analysis', Language Testing Update, Issue 18, pp 59-62.

McEnery, A., Baker, P. and Wilson, A. (1995) 'A Statistical Analysis of Corpus Based Computer vs Traditional Human Teaching Methods of Part of Speech Analysis', Computer Assisted Language Learning , Volume 8, Number 2-3, pp 259-274.

Baker, P. (1994) 'Lithium Discontinuation - A meta-analysis.' Lithium .

Book Chapters

Baker, P. and McGlashan, M. (2020) Critical Discourse Analysis . In: Adolphs, S. & Knight, D. (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of English Language and the Digital Humanities. London: Routledge. pp. 220-241.

Baker, P. (2020) Corpus-assisted discourse analysis. In C. Hart and V. Koller (eds)  Researching Discourse: A Student Guide . London: Routledge, pp. 124-142.

Baker, P. and Baker, H. (2019) Conceptualising masculinity and femininity in the British press. In C. Carter and L. Steiner and S. Allan (eds) Journalism, Gender and Power. London: Routledge pp. 363-382.

Baker, P. and McEnery, T. (2018) 'The value of revisiting and extending previous studies: The Case of Islam in the UK Press.' In R. Scholz (Ed) Quantifying Approaches to Spoken Discourse . Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 215-249. 

Subtirelu, N. C. and Baker, P. (2017) Corpus-based approaches. In Richardson, J. and Flowerdew, J. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, pp. 107-120. 

Baker, P. (2017) Sexuality. In E. Friginal (ed) Studies in Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge, pp. 159-177.

Baker, P. (2016) 'Gendered Discourses' in Baker, P. and Egbert, J. (eds) Triangulating Methodological Approaches in Corpus-Linguistics Research . London Routledge, pp. 138-151.

Baker, P. and McEnery, T. (2015) 'Who benefits when discourse gets democratised? Analysing a Twitter corpus around the British Benefits Street debate.' In Baker, P. and McEnery T. (eds) (2015) Corpora and Discourse Studies: Integrating Discourse and Corpora. London: Palgrave, pp 244-265.

Baker, P. and McEnery, T. (2015) 'Introduction' In Baker, P. and McEnery, T. (eds) (2015) Corpora and Discourse Studies: Integrating Discourse and Corpora. London: Palgrave, pp 1-20.

Baker, P. (2015) 'Two hundred years of the American man.' In T. Milani (ed) Language and Masculinities: performances, intersections, dislocations. London: Routledge.

Baker, P. and McEnery, A. (2014) '"'FIND THE DOCTORS OF DEATH': The UK Press and the Issue of Foreign Doctors Working in the NHS, a Corpus-Based Approach". In A. Jaworski and N. Coupland (eds) The Discourse Reader . London: Routledge.

Baker, P. (2014) '"Bad wigs and screaming mimis": Using corpus-Assisted techniques to carry out critical discourse analysis of the representation of trans people in the British press.' In C. Hart and P. Cap (eds) Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies . London, Bloomsbury: 211-236

Baker P. ‘Discourse and Gender’. (2013) In K. Hyland and B. Paltridge (eds) Continuum Companion to Discourse Analysis . London: Continuum.

Baker, P. (2013) ‘Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics’. J . Holmes (ed). Research Methods in Sociolinguistics. A Practical Guide . Wiley Blackwell.

Baker, P. (2012) 'Corpora and Gender studies' In K. Hyland, C. M. Huat and M. Handford (eds) Corpus Applications in Applied Linguistics. London: Continuum, pp. 100-116.

Baker, P. (2012) ‘Diachronic lexical change in American English (1961-2006).’ In J. Zhang (ed). A Morphologically-based Study of the Lexical Collocation Heterogeneity in EST Texts . Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Baker, P. (2011) 'Social involvement in Corpus Studies.' In V. Viana, S. Zyngier, and G. Barnbrook (eds) Perspectives on Corpus Linguisitcs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins pp.  17-28.

Baker, P. (2010) 'Corpus Linguistics'. L. Litosseleti (ed) Research Methods in Linguistics . London: Continuum, pp. 93-113.

Baker, P. (2009) 'Issues in teaching corpus-based discourse analysis' In L. Lombardo (ed). Using Corpora to Learn about Language and Discourse . Peter Lang, pp. 73-98.

Baker, P. (2009) 'Introduction' In P. Baker (ed) Contemporary Approaches to Corpus Linguistics . London: Continnum, pp. 1-8.

Baker, P. (2009) 'Language and Sexuality'. In J. Culpeper, F. Katamba, P. Kerswill, R. Wodak and T. McEnery (eds) English Language and Linguistics. London: Palgrave, pp. 550-563.

Baker, P. (2008) 'Eligible' bachelors and 'frustrated' spinsters: corpus linguistics, gender and language. In J. Sunderland, K. Harrington and H. Stantson (eds) Gender and Language Research Methodologies . London: Palgrave.

McEnery, T. and Baker, P. (2003) 'Corpora, translation and multilingual computing' in F. Zannetin (ed.) Corpora in Translator Education , St. Jerome Press, Manchester.

Baker, P. (2002) 'No Fats, Femmes or Flamers: Changing Constructions of Identity and the Object of Desire in Gay Men's Magazines.' B. Benwell (ed.) Masculinity and Men's Lifestyle Magazines . Sociological Review.

McEnery, A., Baker, P. and Cheepen, C. (2001) 'Lexis, Indirectness and Politeness in Operator Calls.' In C. Meyer & P. Leistyna. (eds.) Corpus Analysis: Language Structure and Language Use . Rodopi: Amsterdam.

Singh, S., McEnery, A. and Baker, P.(2000) 'Building a Parallel Corpus of English/Punjabi', in J. Veronis (ed) Parallel Text Processing . Kluwer: Dordrecht, pp 335-347.

McEnery, A.M., Baker, P. andHardie, A. (2000) 'Swearing and Abuse in Modern British English', in B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and P.J. Melia (eds.) Practical Applications of Language Corpora , Peter Lang: Hamburg, pp 37-48.

McEnery, A. and Baker, P. (2000) 'Minority Language Engineering', in B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and P.J. Melia (eds.) Practical Applications of Language Corpora, Peter Lang: Hamburg, pp 411-428.

McEnery, A.M., Baker, P. andHardie, A. (2000) 'Assessing Claims about Language Use with Corpus Data - Swearing and Abuse', in J. Kirk (ed) Corpora Galore , Rodopi: Amsterdam, pp 45-55.

Baker, P. (1997) 'Consistency and Accuracy in Correcting Automatically Tagged Data.' In Corpus Annotation . R. Garside, G. Leech & A. McEnery (eds.) Longman Addison-Wesley, pp 243-250.

McEnery, A.M., Baker, P.& Hutchinson, J.E. (1997) 'A Corpus Based Grammar Tutor'. In R.G. Garside, G.N. Leech & A.M. McEnery (eds.) Corpus Annotation , Longman Addison-Wesley, pp 209-219.

Conference Proceedings

Xiao, Z, McEnery, A, Baker, P and Hardie, A (2004) ' Developing Asian language corpora: standards and practice '. In: Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Asian Language Resources, Sanya, China .

Baker, P, Hardie, A, McEnery, T and Jayaram, BD (2003) ' Constructing corpora of South Asian languages '. In: Archer, D, Rayson, P, Wilson, A, and McEnery, T (eds.) (2003) Proceedings of the Corpus Linguistics 2003 conference. UCREL Technical Papers Volume 16 . Department of Linguistics, Lancaster University.

Baker, P, Hardie, A, McEnery, AM and Jayaram, BD (2003) ' Corpus data for South Asian language processing '. In: Proceedings of the EACL Workshop on South Asian Languages, Budapest .

Tablan, V., Ursu, C., Bontcheva, K., Cunningham, H., Maynard, D., Hamza, O., McEnery, T., Baker, P. & Leisher, M. (2002) 'A Unicode-based Environment for Creation and Use of Language Resources ,' in LREC 2002 Proceedings, pp 66-71.

Baker, P, Hardie, A, McEnery, A, Cunningham, H and Gaizauskas, R (2002) ' EMILLE, a 67-million word corpus of Indic languages: data collection, markup and harmonisation '. In: Proceedings of LREC 2002 .

Baker, P, Hardie, A, McEnery, A and Siewierska, A (eds.) (2000) Proceedings of the Third Discourse Anaphora and Reference Resolution Colloquium (2000). UCREL Technical Papers Volume 12 Special Issue . Department of Linguistics, Lancaster University.

McEnery, T., Baker, P., and Burnard, L. (2000) ' Corpus Resources and Minority Language Engineering ', in M. Gavrilidou, G. Carayannis, S. Markantontou, S. Piperidis and G. Stainhauoer (eds) Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, Athens, Greece, pp. 801-806.

McEnery, A. and Baker. P. (1998) 'Intergrating the Intranet into the teaching of linguistics.' (1998). The Future of the Humanities in the Digital Age. International Conference Bergen, Norway. 138-140.

Currrent Teaching

I currently teach various modules in Corpus Linguistics at MA level (on three different degree schemes), have several PhD students and supervise third year UG dissertations.

I have supervised the following PhD students (dates show completion):

Saiqa Asif (2006), Stephanie Suhr (2007), Sibonile Ellece (2008), Yufang Qian (2008), Andrew Brindle (2009), Yuhua Chen (2009), Sheena Kaur (2009), Maryam Pakhnahad (2011), Amir Salama (2011), Rob Bianchi (2011), Hiroko Usami (2012), Bandar Al-Hejin (2012), Rajab Zahrani (2013), Amanda Potts (2014), Anna Marchi (2014), David Brown (2014), Mark McGlashan (2016), Bilal Kadiri (2017), Karen Kinloch (2018), James Balfour (2020), Craig Evans (2021) and Frazer Heritage (2021)

My current PhD students are, Mark Wilkinson (a diachronic analysis of LGBT identity in The Times), Sijia Li (reporting of domestic violence in China) and Rakan Alibri (risks to life news reporting).

I am regularly in London so can supervise PhD students there or at Lancaster.

The BE06 Corpus

The BE06 Corpus is a one million word corpus of published general written British English. It has the same sampling frame as the LOB and FLOB corpora. This consists of 500 files of 2000 word samples taken from 15 genres of writing.

Eighty-two per cent of the texts were published between 2005 and 2007, while the remainder were published in 2003-4 and early 2008. The median sampling point is 2006, hence the title BE06 (British English 2006). The corpus is described in this paper:

Using the corpus

Due to copyright issues, there are no plans to make the corpus files fully available. However, the corpus has been placed on the CQP (Corpus Query Processor) system at Lancaster University and users can carry out concordances, get distribution information (and eventually have access to collocation information). Contact Andrew Hardie in order to obtain a username and password.

Additionally, the following links give frequency lists of the BE06 in various formats (right click on the link and then save it - you may have to initially save as html and then manually change to the .lst file extension using File Explorer).

BE06 in AntConc format

BE06 Wordlist in WordSmith 7 format

BE06 Wordlist in WordSmith 5 format

BE06 Wordlist in Wordsmith 4 format

BE06 Wordlist in WordSmith 3 format

The AmE06 Corpus

The AmE06 Corpus is a one million word corpus of published general written American English, also using the same sampling frame as the LOB and FLOB corpora. This consists of 500 files of 2000 word samples taken from 15 genres of writing. The vast majority of the texts were published in 2006. The corpus is also available via CQPweb, and the wordlist is available below.

AmE06 in AntConc format

AmE06 Wordlist in WordSmith 7 format 

AmE06 Wordlist in WordSmith 5 format

Generative AI for corpus approaches to discourse studies: A critical evaluation of ChatGPT

Research output : Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Representations of obesity in Australian and UK news coverage: A diachronic comparison

Building lana-case, a spoken corpus of american english conversation: challenges and innovations in corpus compilation.

View all (128) »

Outrageous: The Story of Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT Education

Activity : Talk or presentation types › Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar

Activity : Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

Camp: The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World

View all (26) »

CASS awarded 200,000 from landmark ESRC Urgency Grant Scheme

Press/Media : Research

The Daily Telegraph: Google searches 'boost prejudice'

Daily mail: how google's autocomplete reveals racist, sexist and homophobic searches: researchers claim search function 'perpetuates prejudices'.

View all (19) »

• Collaborate

Quick Links

• Undergraduate Degrees
• Postgraduate Study
• University Open Days
• Conference Facilities
• International Students
• University Academics
• Research Collaboration
• Current Students
• Job Vacancies
• Online Payments
• Students’ Union
• Student Portal

Connect With Us

• Like Us Facebook
• Follow Us Twitter
• Get Involved The Student Room
• Find us Instagram
• View our videos YouTube
• Find us Google+
• Find us Foursquare
• Find us LinkedIn
• Find us Weibo

Faculties & Depts

• Arts & Social Sciences
• Health & Medicine
• Science & Technology
• Departments, Institutes & Centres
• +44 (0)1524 65201
• Legal notice
• Freedom of Information
• Privacy and Cookies Notice
• ^ Back to top
• Copyright © 2006- 2016 Lancaster University

Dr Robbie Love

Researcher in english linguistics.

I am a Lecturer in English Language at Aston University . I work in the  Department of English, Languages and Applied Linguistics (ELAL)  in the  School of Social Sciences and Humanities .

I am a researcher and educator in English language and linguistics, working in the areas of corpus linguistics, applied linguistics and discourse analysis. I am a corpus linguist, specialising in contemporary spoken discourse, and I advocate for the application of corpus approaches to address societal challenges.

I am a member of the Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL) , within which I am Co-Director of the Aston Corpus Linguistics Research Group and host of the Aston Originals CorpusCast podcast, and I am a member of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) .

Before joining Aston, I held research positions at Cambridge University Press & Assessment and the University of Leeds. I completed my BA (Hons), MA and PhD degrees at Lancaster University where, as a member of the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science , I was lead researcher on the design and construction of the Spoken British National Corpus 2014 .

Qualifications: Specialist Certificate in AI for Learning (CDLS), Digital Learning Institute, 2023 Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Advance HE, 2021 PhD Linguistics, Lancaster University, 2018 MA Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University, 2014 BA (Hons) Linguistics, Lancaster University, 2013

Curriculum Vitae | Google Scholar | ORCiD | ResearchGate

Share this:

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

A fully-funded PhD in Linguistics at Lancaster University

Case phd studentship.

ESRC CASE Doctoral Award at Lancaster University: ‘ Linguistic adaptability across genres and modalities: A corpus-based investigation of a key component of L2 proficiency’ .

Applications are invited to undertake a fully-funded, full-time three-year PhD studentship to be held at Lancaster University, beginning in October 2021. The PhD studentship is funded by the ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) and will be undertaken in collaboration between Lancaster University (the Department of Linguistics and English Language) and the British Council.

The successful applicant will work on a PhD project that addresses an issue of critical importance in language learning and testing – the construct of linguistic proficiency in a second language (L2). In particular, it focuses on a crucial component of proficiency, linguistic adaptability, that is, the ability to adapt the use of language according to different communicative contexts and needs represented in different tasks. The study combines corpus methods with advances in language testing and assessment (LTA) research to address the topic and to contribute to second language acquisition (SLA) and LTA theory. The study also seeks to apply the findings directly in LTA practice by closely collaborating with the British Council (BC), a major international organisation specialising in the delivery of English teaching and testing.

The project will use corpus methods to investigate linguistic adaptability in production of L2 learners of English. In particular, the project will further develop and use a unique corpus that represents production from the same set of learners across different modes of communication (speech/writing) and across a series of tasks representing different genres. This corpus is based on the APTIS test , developed and administered by the BC and taken annually by over 300,000 users in over 100 countries. The study uses the existing Spoken APTIS corpus, completed in 2020 through a collaboration between Lancaster University and the BC, containing 663,111 words of spoken performance data from 865 speakers. The Written APTIS corpus will be built as part of the PhD project using the written component of the APTIS test from the same set of learners that contributed the spoken samples, with the estimated size of 1.5M words when complete. The corpus represents L2 speakers from three levels of English proficiency (intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced) and three linguistic/cultural backgrounds (Arabic, Chinese and Spanish), allowing the investigation of the development of linguistic adaptability across speakers of increasing proficiency levels and typologically different languages.

A thorough training and guidance in the use of corpus methods will be provided as part of the doctoral training; any other required training (e.g. in specific research methods) will also be provided as part of the PhD. In addition to the contribution to the language acquisition and language testing theory, the study seeks to improve assessment of spoken English by closely collaborating with the  British Council’s Assessment Research Group  and by making the findings directly relevant to language test developers.

The project seeks to address the following research questions:

• RQ1: What is the effect of modality (speech vs. writing) and task (genre) on L2 performance?
• RQ2: Do more proficient L2 users show more adaptability to modality/task than less proficient L2 users?
• RQ3: Is there a relationship between adaptability and other features of L2 performance (e.g. accuracy and complexity)?   

The PhD studentship award represents an excellent opportunity to combine training as a researcher in a leading academic Linguistics department as well as gain skills through working in a non-academic environment, with our industrial partner, the British Council.  The PhD project will involve close cooperation with the members of the Assessment Research Group at the British Council. 

The PHD studentship award: The studentship covers full-time academic fees (standard UKRI Home rate) and provides a yearly stipend (£15,285 in 2021/22). It also includes access to a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) for reimbursement of research related expenses including – but not limited to – conference attendance, training courses and UK fieldwork.

Supervision:  The studentship will be supervised by a team consisting of Dr Dana Gablasova, Dr Vaclav Brezina and Prof Luke Harding from Lancaster University and Dr Jamie Dunlea from the British Council.

The Candidate:  We are seeking to appoint a PhD student who

• Has experience or interest in studying spoken and written production of L2 English learners  and  in applying the findings to language testing; has experience or interest in corpus-based methods
• Has a first class or upper second class or equivalent undergraduate degree 
• Has completed or is in the process of completing a postgraduate (Master’s) degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. linguistics, applied linguistics, TESOL, corpus linguistics, language testing or other related field.)
• Satisfies the academic, language and residential eligibility requirement (see  http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/phd-studentship/eligibility-criteria/ )

Deadline: Closing date for applications: Tuesday, 6th April 2021, 5pm (UK time). 

Alternatively, use our A–Z index

Attend an open day

Discover more about this subject area

PhD Linguistics / Overview

Year of entry: 2024

• View full page
• Bachelor's (Honours) degree at 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and 
• Master's degree in a relevant subject – with an overall average of 65% or above, a minimum mark of 65% in your dissertation and no mark below 55% (or overseas equivalent)

Full entry requirements

Apply online

Please ensure you include all  required supporting documents  at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered. 

Application Deadlines 

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by  12 January 2024. 

If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self–funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed. 

• For September 2024 entry:  30 June 2024 
• For January 2025 entry:  30 September 2024

Programme options

Programme overview.

• Access expert supervision across an exceptional breadth of research areas in Linguistics.
• Join a vibrant and lively international centre for Linguistics with an active postgraduate research community.  
• Alongside an exceptionally large cluster of experts on English language, we have particular strengths in Romance, Germanic, and Austronesian languages, as well as the languages of Latin America and Africa.
• 92% of our research activity was recognised as 'world leading' or `internationally excellent' REF2021.

We will be conducting our Humanities PGR virtual open week in October 2024. Find out more about future events and postgraduate research sessions by signing up for our email alerts. 

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

• PhD (full-time) UK students (per annum): £4,786 International, including EU, students (per annum): £21,500
• PhD (part-time) UK students (per annum): £2,393

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

Please note for the majority of projects where experimentation requires further resource: higher fee bands (where quoted) will be charged rather than the base rate for supervision, administration and computational costs. The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive and, therefore, you will not be required to pay any additional bench fees or administration costs.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of the course for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your project.

Scholarships/sponsorships

There are a range of scholarships, studentships and awards to support both UK and overseas postgraduate researchers, details of which can be found via the links below.

To apply University of Manchester funding, you must indicate in your application the competitions for which you wish to be considered. The deadline for most internal competitions, including AHRC NWCDTP and School of Arts, Languages and Cultures studentships is 12 January 2024. 

All external funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting the funding application form and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form, both of which will be stated in the funding competition details below.  

For more information about funding, visit our funding page to browse for scholarships, studentships and awards you may be eligible for.

• ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures PhD Studentships 2024 Entry - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• China Scholarship Council - The University of Manchester (CSC-UoM) Joint Scholarship Programme - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures New Generation PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Awards - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• Trudeau Doctoral Scholarships 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (High Income Countries)
• Humanities Doctoral Academy Humanitarian Scholarship 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (Least Developed Countries and Fragile States)

Contact details

See: About us

Programmes in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of programmes in related subject areas.

• Linguistics and English Language

Regulated by the Office for Students

The University of Manchester is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS aims to help students succeed in Higher Education by ensuring they receive excellent information and guidance, get high quality education that prepares them for the future and by protecting their interests. More information can be found at the OfS website .

You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at The University of Manchester, including our Degree Regulations and Complaints Procedure, on our regulations website .