Hello one and all,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Sheffield Hallam University for the 
inaugural address of the 2015-2018 Visiting Professor of the Humanities Research 
Centre, Professor Paul Kerswill. His talk is entitled "The media engaging linguists: 
a two-way street?". Here's the abstract:

=====================================================
Dealing with the media is a challenge for linguists. Linguists are called upon as 
experts, yet it is the expertise of the public that seems to win out. In my 
presentation, I'll deconstruct this position. I'll begin by presenting some 
relatively high-profile media stories about language, ranging from The One Show, via 
Newsnight, to Channel 4 News. I will continue by presenting my own research on the 
representation of Multicultural London English in the print media, from its first 
mention in 2006, through to its association with Jihadi John in August 2014 and his 
'replacement', who broadcast threats in January this year. Motivated by this 
experience, I carried out an online survey of sociolinguists who had had contacts 
with the media, in which they responded to a range of questions. I was surprised by 
the results, and I will suggest ways in which these should inform what we do in our 
continued media contacts.
=====================================================

The talk is free, and depending on how generous the university is feeling, there 
might just be nibbles and wine available afterwards.

It's in the Stoddart building of the City campus, which is a laughably short walk 
from Sheffield central train station. Easy peasy for visiting! Here's the building on 
Google street view: https://goo.gl/maps/eVa8PKkGApv. And here's a map of the 
laughably short walk: https://goo.gl/maps/UCvRyiiuC442.

PLEASE REGISTER: https://kerswillhallamseminar.eventbrite.co.uk. Note: Eventbrite may 
automatically pester you to print and bring your ticket but don't worry about that - 
it's just to help us gauge numbers and justify a certain volume of snacks and booze :)

See you there/here!

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
[log in to unmask] | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers


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