Corpus linguistics

Ronel Wasserman

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 07:36:45 +0000

Ronel Wasserman Anonymous Mon, 09/28/2015 - 09:36

Corpus linguistics

Grammaticalisation

Language contact

Modality

Sociohistorical linguistics

South African English varieties

Lecturer

Ronel

Wasserman

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Faculty of Humanities

My research career started in 2009 when I began compiling the Historical Corpus of South African English, consisting of personal and business letters, news reportage, fiction and non-fiction from all over the country, and spanning from the 1820s to the present. I became more and more interested in the grammatical and semantic changes that occurred within this unique variety of English over time.

Based on evidence from the Historical Corpus, my PhD focused on the development of the modal system (modal and quasi-modal verbs) of South African English across the 19^th and 20^th centuries, both in terms of frequency changes and macro- and micro-semantic changes. The study revealed that South African English modality evolved along different lines than other native varieties of English in the world, largely owing to the influence of extensive contact with Afrikaans.

In 2012 I was presented with the first Braj Kachru Student Award at The 18^th Annual Conference of the International Association of World Englishes (IAWE), co-hosted by the City University of Hong Kong, and Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, for a conference paper I delivered on some preliminary findings from the study.

Currently, I am conducting comparative studies in modality between historical corpora of Afrikaans and Black South African English, to better understand the role of language contact in shaping language within the complex linguistic setting of South Africa. I am also working toward expanding the historical corpus and extending my research into other domains of variation within the verb phrase.

I have postgraduate students working on typological comparisons between the modal systems of Afrikaans, Dutch and English, as well as comparative authorship attribution within the field of corpus stylistics.

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Telephone Number

+27(0)16 910 3401

E-mail

20390750@nwu.ac.za

Dr Ronel Wasserman

Maristi Partridge

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:19:46 +0000

Maristi Partridge Anonymous Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:19

Corpus linguistics

Language evolution and change

Sociolinguistics

Lecturer

Maristi

Partridge

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Faculty of Humanities

After completing a degree in Language Practice I worked as a classroom interpreter and freelance language practitioner. I started work at the NWU in 2007 as junior lecturer where I presented modules in Academic Literacy, Language Practice and English Linguistics. The modules that focussed on the influence of various linguistic theories on translation theory contributed to my interest in linguistics.

My research career started in 2008 when I investigated the factors that play a role in interpreters’ performance in the classroom. The research was influenced by my undergraduate studies in Language Practice. During this time, I developed an interest in linguistics. I pursued this interest in the completion of my master’s dissertation entitled Specificity in lexical verbs: a corpus-based lexicological study. In the dissertation I investigated lexical specificity in the communication verbs of Black South African English (BSAE) and first language (L1) English. Currently, I am working on my doctoral thesis in which I provide a collostructional analysis of the verb complementation patterns in BSAE.

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Telephone Number

+27(0)16 910 3461

E-mail

Maristi.Partridge@nwu.ac.za

Maristi Partridge

Caroline Piotrowska

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 10:33:25 +0000

Caroline Piotrowska Anonymous Fri, 09/04/2015 - 12:33

Corpus linguistics

Historical linguistics

Language evolution and change

Sociolinguistics

Lecturer

Caroline

Piotrowska

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Faculty of Humanities

I am a lecturer and researcher working in the field of linguistics, and a member of the UPSET research focus area, at the Vanderbijlpark Campus of the North-West University.

I started my academic career by completing my BA in Humanities at North-West University in 2011, and received an award as the best performer in the final year for Bachelor of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities. Thereafter, I completed an Honours BA in English, during which I wrote a mini-dissertation focusing on the processing of texting features, such as sms-shortcuts. My MA dissertation, titled A Diachronic Analysis of the Progressive Aspect in Black South African English, investigated the historical development of the meanings of stative and dynamic verbs when combined with the progressive aspect.

I am currently involved in the compilation of a diachronic corpus of Black South African English (BSAE), which encompasses the collection and processing of fiction, letter, and newspaper data that ranges from the 1880s to the 2000s.

I am currently working on historical language change in Black South African English (BSAE), investigating the development of salient features of this variety, and how these developments compare to those found within White South African English (WSAE).

I am also interested in the mechanisms involved in processing and understanding language, the brain’s response to reading and writing in different genres, child and adult language acquisition, eye-tracking, and the morpho-syntactic deviations found within E.E. Cummings’ poetry

Blog or Website

http://www.nwu.ac.za/vtc_sl/about-us

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Telephone Number

0169103463

E-mail

Carolina.Piotrowska@nwu.ac.za

Ms Caroline Piotrowska