Dr Sadie Ryan from Glasgow University has been busy making headlines with her language research findings in the last few months. Her work has been featured in the Scotsman, “Scots is a language and not ‘slang’ – Alistair Heather” and in the Conversation, “Fitting in: why Polish immigrant children say ‘aye’ to the Glasgow vibe“. It was great to get a preview of her research at our Bilingualism Matters Research Symposium last year and see how it’s taken off since then.
Sadie also produces an interesting and informative podcast series called Accentricity, in which she examines the eccentricities of language and identity. Here are a couple of episodes not to be missed!
Multilingualism is Not a Curse: Part 1
‘Multilingual societies should be regarded as an opportunity, rather than as a set of problems to solve.’ – Antonella Sorace
Having more than one language is good for lots of obvious reasons, but also some which are not so obvious. This is an episode about multilingualism: why it’s a blessing and not a curse.
Multilingualism is Not a Curse: Part 2
‘For me, linguistic diversity is absolutely amazing, and it’s incredibly persistent. Diversity persists, despite the many attempts for us to all just speak one language.’ – Alison Phipps
Why is that despite all of the evidence that using multiple languages is good for you, multilingualism is still sometimes treated with suspicion? In this episode, I examine the concept of verbal hygiene, and how the policing of linguistic borders affects the lives of multilingual speakers in the UK.
You can follow the podcast on social media:
@accentricitypod on Twitter
@accentricitypod on Instagram
@accentricitypod on Facebook
