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Staff Profile

Professor Karen Corrigan

Director of Research in Linguistics

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7757
  • Address: School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Percy Building, 缅北禁地, 缅北禁地, NE1 7RU, UK.
Background

Role in School/Faculty

As Director of Research in Linguistics, I provide leadership and strategic direction for research in Language and Linguistics within the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics as well as in the Schools of Education, Communication and Language Sciences and Modern Languages.


Biography

BA (Hons.) Linguistics and Old and Middle English (University College, Dublin)

PhD English Language (University College, Dublin)

Member of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Programme Peer Review College

National Museum of Language, Washington D.C.'s Leadership Council Board Member for the UK

President, International Society for the Linguistics of English


Research Expertise

As Professor of Linguistics and English language, my areas of research expertise are:

  • Acquisition of Variation
  • Bilingualism and Language Contact
  • Celtic Englishes and North Eastern English Dialects
  • Colonial Englishes
  • Corpus Linguistics
  • Historical English Linguistics
  • Language Variation and Change
  • Language and Migration
  • Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of Language
  • Variation and Syntactic Theory

I regularly engage in collaborative projects with educators, libraries and heritage organisations and am an Executive Board member of 缅北禁地's Centre of Research Excellence in Heritage. I currently supervise an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award involving staff at the British Library, Queen's University, Belfast and National Museums Northern Ireland.

I am also experienced in developing innovative practice and research in teaching and learning, with a particular focus on decolonizing the curriculum and developing transferable skills to enhance employability.

 

Language Expertise

I have expertise in Modern (particularly Ulster) Irish as well as in Old, Middle and Early Modern English.





 

Research

Research Summary

My research interests are wide and varied and I have led funded projects on topics including:

•Language, Migration and Identity: My current project,  (‘Teach the Children English’), addresses the socio-cultural and linguistic impact on Northern Ireland of its changing population in the 21st century. It also compares the experiences of contemporary immigrants with those of Northern Irish emigrants historically. A central focus is the loss in immigrant and colonial contexts of first languages and the acquisition of variation in second languages by young bilinguals. Key publications include:  (2020);  (2020) and  (2020) (with Chloé Diskin).

•Corpus Creation and Digitization: This research preserved the intangible  by developing state-of-the-art computational methods for enhancing and future-proofing legacy dialect data. The corpora are Open Access via the following links: (1) ; (2) ; (3) . Key publications include:  (2007a) and  (2007b) (with Joan Beal and Hermann Moisl) as well as  (2016) (with Adam Mearns).

•Contact, Change and Variation: This research strand developed from my 1997 doctorate. It was further extended in  which conducted the first 21st century dialectological survey of Northern Ireland. The resultant analyses of discourse-pragmatics, lexis, morphosyntax and phonology situate Northern Irish English dialects globally as well as within the context of other British Isles’ varieties. The latter include North Eastern Englishes which my work shows to retain features inherited from intensive Irish immigration during the Great Famine era. Resources from the project are available on Open Access here: . Key publications include:  (2010a);  (2010) (with Joan Beal);  (2015);  (2018) (with Claire Childs, Christopher Harvey and Sali Tagliamonte).

•Socio-Syntax: My contribution to this field also arose from my doctoral studies which pioneered a theoretical model for examining sociolinguistic variation historically within a Principles and Parameters framework. Publications include:  (2000); ‘For-to infinitives and beyond’ (2003);  (2010b). My collaboration with Leonie Cornips to further extend this model to account for variation in Heerlen Dutch and South Armagh English was a catalyst for exchange and debate between variationists and syntacticians that continues to this day. The research was facilitated by an Exchange Fellowship funded by the British Council/Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship awarded to me for A Parametric Approach to Language Contact. Publications arising from this joint work included:  (2005a) and  (2005b). These projects became a stepping-stone for further collaborative research exploring new methodologies and applying the model to other varieties of English in Dublin, Hawick (on the Scottish borders) and 缅北禁地. Publications include:  (2011) (with Isabelle Buchstaller); ’ (2012) (with Richard Edge and John Lonergan);  (2013) (with Isabelle Buchstaller, Anders Holmberg, Patrick Honeybone and Warren Maguire).

 

 
Teaching

Learning and Teaching

I have developed innovative practice in teaching and learning, with a particular focus on decolonizing the curriculum and developing transferable skills to enhance employability. For instance, my contributions to the undergraduate 'Early English: Texts, Patterns and Varieties' module explore the colonisation of Ireland and North America historically. By examining the assumptions of the colonisers (e.g. that the Irish outside of regions where the Anglo-Normans dominated were 'Beyond the Pale'), students are encouraged to interrogate such assumptions and the language contact models and frameworks in which these biases can still be detected. Students who enrol in my 'Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of Language' module not only get the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to research by collecting data that feeds into the , but they develop interview and other communication skills which they are likely to require no matter what their career choices. 

Research Supervision

My areas of expertise for supervision of research are: Acquisition of Variation; Bilingualism and Language Contact; Corpus Linguistics; Dialects of English; Language and Migration; Language, Variation and Change; Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of Language; Socio-Syntax. (Suggestions for Inter-disciplinary projects are also encouraged.)


Recent and Current Research Student Projects:

Amand, M. (2019) A Sociophonetic Analysis of Tyneside English in the DECTE Corpus (Co-Tutelle, University of Paris-Diderot).

Ambusaidi, S. (2019). A Sociolinguistic Study of Dialect Contact and Change in Omani Arabic. Suaad is now Lecturer at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.

Bueno-Amaro, J. (2021) Variation, Change, and Grammaticalization in Tyneside Teen Talk: A Sociolinguistic Study of Intensification and Emphasis (Research Excellence Academy Funding).

Hanna, R.E. (2019) Reader and Listener Responses to Asylum-Seekers’ Life Narratives: Language and Empathy (AHRC Northern Bridge Funding with QUB).

Lynch, S. (2021) Kosraean English: History, Development and Structure of an Emergent Micronesian Variety (Co-Tutelle, University of Bern).

Matthews, C.S. (2021-) Eavesdropping on our Past: Mapping the Oral Soundscape of Northern Irish English (AHRC Northern Bridge Collaborative Doctoral Award with QUB and National Museums Northern Ireland).

Rowe, E. (2021) “To Distill Golde out of Inke”: Metals, Metaphor, and the Materiality of Language in Early Modern England (AHRC Northern Bridge Funding).


Previous Research Student Projects:

Alsamdani, H. (2017) The Jihadist Discourse of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (2003-2005). Hadi is now Assistant Professor, Allith University College, Umm Al Qura University, Saudi Arabia.

Shetewi, O. (2017) Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in a Dialect Contact Situation: The Case of Palestinian Children and Adolescents in Syria. Ourooba now has a post-doctoral researcher position on the ESRC-funded project: 

Childs, C. (2016) Variation and Change in English Negation: A Cross-Dialectal Perspective (ESRC NINE Funding). Claire is now a lecturer at the University of York, UK.

Alruwayeh, M. (2015) Diglossic Code-Switching in Kuwaiti Newspapers.

Roberts, N. (2014) Sociolinguistic Variation on the Island of Martinique (AHRC Northern Bridge Funding). Nicholas is now Head of Sark School in the Channel Islands. 

Antonini, R. (2011) A Comparative Study of Attitudes Towards Irish in Revival and Survival Gaeltachtaí (British Association of Irish Studies Funding). Rachele is now Associate Professor, University of Bologna. 

Maguire, W. (2007) What is a Merger and can it be Reversed?: The Origin, Status and Reversal of the ‘NURSE’-‘NORTH’ Merger in Tyneside English. Warren is now Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh.

Ihemere, K. (2006) Language Choice and Language Shift in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria. Kelechukwu is now Senior Lecturer, University of Westminster.

Rowley, I. (2003) The Development of Functional Categories in First Language Acquisition. Irenie is now Senior Lecturer, Northumbria University. 


 
Publications

  • Articles

    • Robinson M, Corrigan KP. . Modern Languages Open 2026. In Press.
    • Robinson M, Corrigan KP, Fisher J. . The Clinical Teacher 2025, 22(3), e70084.
    • Shetewi O, Corrigan KP, Khattab G. . Languages 2024, 9(11), 341.
    • Childs C, Harvey C, Corrigan KP, Tagliamonte SA. . English Language and Linguistics 2020, 24(1), 23-47.
    • Corrigan K, Diskin C. . Language in Society 2020, 49(5), 745-773.
    • Fehringer C, Corrigan KP. . English World-Wide 2015, 36(2), 198-227.
    • Corrigan KP, Montgomery C. . English Language and Linguistics 2015, 19(2), 203-211.
    • Fehringer C, Corrigan KP. . English Language and Linguistics 2015, 19(Special Issue 2), 355-381.
    • Fehringer C, Corrigan KP. . English Today 2015, 31(2), 38-50.
    • Buchstaller I, Corrigan KP, Holmberg A, Honeybone P, Maguire W. . English Language and Linguistics 2013, 17(1), 85-128.
    • Corrigan KP. . English Today 2011, 27(2), 39-46.
    • Kretzchmar W, Anderson J, Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Opas-Hänninen L, Plichta B. . Journal of English Linguistics 2006, 34(3), 172-205.
    • Corrigan KP. . English World-Wide: A Journal of Varieties of English 2000, 21(1), 25-62.
    • Corrigan KP. . Ulster Folklife 1999, 45, 54-69.
    • Corrigan KP. . Scottish Language 1996, 14/15, 218-233.

  • Authored Books

    • Corrigan KP. . Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2020.
    • Corrigan KP. . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010.

  • Book Chapters

    • Corrigan KP. . In: Fox S, ed. Language in Britain & Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024, pp.178-207.
    • Amador-Moreno CP, Corrigan KP. . In: Amador-Moreno CP; Haumann D; Peters A, ed. Digitally-Assisted Historical English Linguistics. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2023, pp.11-33.
    • Amador-Moreno CP, Avila-Ledesma NE, Corrigan KP. . In: Lucek S; Amador-Moreno CP, ed. Expanding the Landscapes of Irish English Research: Papers in Honour of Dr Jeffrey L. Kallen. New York: Routledge, 2021, pp.38-53.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Beaman, KV; Buchstaller, I; Fox, S; Walker, JA, ed. Advancing Socio-Grammatical Variation and Change. New York: Routledge, 2020, pp.319-340.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Montgomery, C. and Moore, E, ed. Language and a Sense of Place: Studies in Language and Region. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
    • Mearns AJ, Corrigan KP, Buchstaller I. . In: Corrigan, KP; Mearns, AJ, ed. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora - Volume 3: Databases for Public Engagement. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp.177-120.
    • Corrigan KP, Mearns AJ. . In: Corrigan, KP; Mearns, AJ, ed. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora - Volume 3: Databases for Public Engagement. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp.1-21.
    • Amador-Moreno C, Corrigan KP, McCafferty K, Moreton E. . In: Corrigan, KP; Mearns, AJ, ed. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora - Volume 3: Databases for Public Engagement. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp.25-67.
    • Buchstaller I, Corrigan KP. . In: Hickey, R, ed. Researching Northern Englishes. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015, pp.71-98.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Amador-Moreno, C; McCafferty, K; and Vaughan, E, ed. Pragmatic Markers in Irish English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015, pp.37-64.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Filppula, M., Klemola, J., Sharma, D, ed. Oxford Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Mearns AJ, Moisl HL. . In: Durand, J; Gut, U; Kristoffersen, G, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Corpus Phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.517-533.
    • Corrigan KP, Mearns AJ, Moisl HL. . In: Szmrecsanyi, B; Walchli, B, ed. Aggregating Dialectology, Typology, and Register Analysis: Linguistic Variation in Text and Speech. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter, 2014, pp.113-149.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications. Taylor and Francis, 2013, pp.213-216.
    • Buchstaller I, Corrigan KP, Holmberg A. Introspective judgments and sociolinguistic interviews as testing instruments for revealing syntactic microvariation. In: Parrot, J, ed. Theoretical Perspectives on Intra-Individual Variation and its Empirical Study. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2013, pp.submitted. Submitted.
    • Corrigan KP, Edge R, Lonergan J. . In: Migge, B., Chiosain, M.N, ed. New Perspectives on Irish English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2012, pp.1-28.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Nevalainen, T., Traugott, E, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp.90-93.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Hickey, R, ed. Researching the Languages of Ireland. Uppsala: Uppsala University Press, 2011, pp.183-205.
    • Buchstaller I, Corrigan KP. . In: Gregersen, F., Parrott, J., Quist, P, ed. Language Variation - European Perspectives III. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011, pp.149-160.
    • Buchstaller I, Corrigan KP. . In: Maguire, W., McMahon, A, ed. Analysing Variation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp.30-48.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Hickey, R, ed. The Handbook of Language Contact. Oxford: Blackwell, 2010, pp.106-127.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Penttila, E., Paulasto, H, ed. Language Contacts Meet English Dialects: Studies in Honour of Markku Filppula. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, pp.231-258.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Filppula, M., Klemola, J., Paulasto, H, ed. Vernacular Universals and Language Contacts: Evidence from Varieties of English and Beyond. London and New York: Routledge, 2009, pp.133-162.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Elspaß, S; Langer, N; Scarloth, J; Vandenbussche, W, ed. Germanic Language Histories 'from Below' (1700-2000). Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007, pp.99-114.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Moisl HL. . In: Beal, JC; Corrigan, KP; Moisl, HL, ed. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora: Diachronic Databases. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp.1-15.
    • Allen W, Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Maguire W, Moisl HL. . In: Beal, JC; Corrigan, KP; Moisl, HL, ed. Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora: Diachronic Databases. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp.16-48.
    • Cornips L, Corrigan KP. . In: Cornips, L.; Corrigan, K.P, ed. Syntax and Variation: Reconciling the Biological and the Social. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005, pp.1-30.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Iyeiri, Y, ed. Aspects of English Negation. Tokyo and Amsterdam: Yushodo Press and John Benjamins, 2005, pp.139-156.
    • Cornips L, Corrigan KP. . In: Auer, P., Hinskens, F., Kerswill, P, ed. Dialect Change : Convergence and Divergence in European Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp.96-134.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Filppula M; Klemola J; Palander M; Penttilä E, ed. Dialects Across Borders: Selected papers from the 11th International Conference on Methods in Dialectology (Methods XI), Joensuu, August 2002. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005, pp.211-229.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Tristram H.L.C, ed. The Celtic Englishes III. Heidelberg: Universitatsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, 2003, pp.318-338.
    • Antonini R, Corrigan KP, Wei Li. . In: Ammon, U., Mattheier, K.J., Nelde, P, ed. Language Policy and Small Languages, Special Issue of Sociolinguistica: International Yearbook of European Sociolinguistics. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2002, pp.118-128.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP. . In: Poussa, P, ed. Relativisation on the North Sea Littoral. Munich: Lincom Europa, 2002, pp.33-56.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Tristram, H.L.C, ed. Celtic Englishes II. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2000, pp.75-96.
    • Verma MK, Corrigan KP, Firth SA. . In: Wynn Thomas, P., Mathias, J, ed. Developing Minority Languages: The Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Minority Languages. Cardiff, UK: Department of Welsh, Cardiff University, 2000, pp.506-529.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Mallory, J, ed. Linguistic Diversity in Ulster, Special Issue of Ulster Folklife. Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland: Museums & Galleries of Northern Ireland, 1999, pp.54-69.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: Ahlqvist , A., Capková, V, ed. Dán Do Oide: Essays in Memory of Conn R. Ó Cleirigh. Dublin: The Linguistics Institute of Ireland, 1997, pp.75-93.
    • Verma MK, Corrigan KP, Firth SA. . In: Verma, M.K., Corrigan, K.P., Firth, S.A, ed. Working with Bilingual Children: Good Practice in Primary Classrooms. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1995, pp.94-108.
    • Corrigan KP. . In: O' Sullivan, P, ed. The Irish in the New Communities. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1992, pp.143-161.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

    • Verma MK, Corrigan KP, Firth SA. . In: New Sounds 1992, Proceedings of a Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Languages. 1992, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: University of Amsterdam.

  • Edited Books

    • Corrigan KP, Mearns AJ, ed. . Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Moisl HL, ed. . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Moisl HL, ed. . Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
    • Cornips L, Corrigan KP, ed. . Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005.
    • Verma MK, Corrigan KP, Firth SA, ed. . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1995.

  • Online Publications

    • Childs C, Harvey C, Corrigan KP, Tagliamonte SA. . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2015. Available at: .
    • Corrigan KP, Buchstaller I, Mearns AJ, Moisl HL. The Diachronic Electronic Corpus of Tyneside English. 2012.
    • Beal JC, Corrigan KP, Rayson P, Smith N. . University of Helsinki: The Research Unit for Variation, Contacts and Change in English (VARIENG), 2007. Available at: .

  • Review

    • Corrigan KP. . AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2003, 28(2), 201-229.