Professor Bernadette O'Rourke
Visiting Research Fellowship, September 2023 - March 2024
Home Institution: University of Glasgow
Bernadette O’Rourke is Professor of Sociolinguistics and Hispanic Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Glasgow. Her research sits within the broad area of sociolinguistics and the sociology of language and focuses on the political and social meanings of language and their influence on society. She was Chair of the EU COST Action IS1306 entitled New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Opportunities and Challenges (2013 – 2017). Her recent co-authored publications include New Speakers of Irish in the Global Context: New revival? (Routledge 2020) and the Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities (Palgrave 2019) which won the British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Book Prize in 2020. She is currently completing a new book from a Leverhulme funded project entitled A new agenda in minority language sociolinguistics: rethinking contemporary language revitalisation (Cambridge University Press).
Project: Multidimensional approaches to multilingual sustainability
Globalisation and increased movement of people have re-shaped the value of different languages and ways of speaking. For some commentators, globalisation is seen as key factor in the ‘dissolution’ of certain languages and diversity more broadly. This is by no means always the case. Languages are frequently taken up and used by new types of speakers, for new purposes and in new spaces. This project examines this dynamic and its largely under-explored potential for the future of diversity more broadly. It builds on a broader programme of research as part of a mid-career British Academy Fellowship entitled New Geographies of Language in Minority Language Sociolinguistics. Existing research in minority language sociolinguistics, has hinted at the role played by space, context and environment in relation to language acquisition and use. It has not always explored such themes thoroughly or with reference to contemporary geographical debates. Similarly, the field of urban studies, sociology and geography have not always paid enough attention to language and multilingualism. The aim is to develop a multidimensional approach to language revitalisation and minority language sociolinguistics by bringing these and other fields into dialogue. The IASH Fellowship provides an excellent opportunity to facilitateinterdisciplinary dialogue in this area and to explore new theoretical and methodological approaches. Through this, the project will seek to provide answers to key social questions such as to how to support linguistic diversity and multilingual sustainability in an age of globalisation as well as practical ways in which urban planners can engage more systematically with language issues in highly complex urban environments not only in Europe but around the world.