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Conferences & Invited talks

Conference Presentations ?& Workshops

2021

  • Workshop: Studying children and adolescents in World Englishes: Rethinking paradigms and approaches. ISLE 6. online. (with Sarah Buschfeld & Mirjam Schmalz)

2019

  • Automatic formant extraction in the study of vowels in New Englishes: A comparison of different methods. 24th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Limerick (with Philipp Meer)
  • The vowel system of Botswanan English: An acoustic-phonetic analysis using an automatic segmentation and formant extraction tool”. 24th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Limerick.
  • Automatic formant extraction. Methods used in the study of phonology and phonetics of New Englishes. Münster. (with Philipp Meer)
  • Collecting speech data in a Cameroonian Primary School. New Englishes, New Methods, Bochum.

2018

  • Sociodemographics first!: A new perspective on modelling the evolution of Ghanaian English. 5th Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English. London, 16-20/07.
  • A new perspective on the evolution of Ghanaian English. International Congress of Linguistics 20. Cape Town, 02-06/07.

2017

  • Workshop:?"Collecting and analysing diachronic data in World Englishes", ISLE?Summer School 2017:?Variation in World Englishes: advanced issues in theory and methodology, Regensburg, 05-08/10.
  • The future lies in the past – Diachronic approaches to the study of (post-)colonial Englishes, Simo Bobda International Symposium: Trends in English Language/Linguistics & Literature in an African & Global Perspective, Yaoundé, 05/04.

2016

  • A real-time corpus-based study of the progressive in Ghanaian English. 4th Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English. Poznan, 19/09.

  • Workshop: "Diachronic Change in New Englishes" (co-organised with Robert Fuchs and Ariane M. Borlongan), 4th Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English. Poznan, 19/09.

  • A real-time analysis of lexical expansion in the Nativization phase of Ghanaian English. Sociolinguistics Symposium 21. Murcia, 16/06.

  • Lexical expansion in Ghanaian English: A real-time analysis. ICAME 37. Hong Kong, 27/05.

2015

  • Lexical innovation in the early nativization phase in Ghanaian English: a corpus-based analysis. 21st Conference of the International Association for World Englishes, Istanbul, 08/10.

  • Lexical Innovation in the Nativization Phase of a New English. FJUEL 5.0. Bayreuth, 18/09.

2014

  • Assessing the auditory and acoustic status of /t/ in three varieties of African Englishes: The case of Tanzanian, Ghanaian and Black South African English. 20th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Delhi, 20/12. (with Diana Gerhardt)
  • Compiling a historical written corpus of Ghanaian English: Methodological and theoretical considerations. 20th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Delhi, 18/12.

2013

  • /t/-affrication as a marker of Ghanainness: An auditory and acoustic comparison with final /d/ and /ts/. International Conference on Language Variation and Change in Postcolonial Contexts. Salerno, 18/04.

2012

  • An Acoustic-Phonetic Analysis of the Ghanaian English Vowel System. 18th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Hong Kong/Guangzhou, 06/12.
  • ?Assessing the Status of /t/ in Ghanaian English: An Auditory and Acoustic-Phonetic Analysis. 18th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. Hong Kong/Guangzhou, 06/12. (wirhSebastian Schmidt)

2011

  • The effects of dialect contact on the accent of Aberdeen. UK Language Variation and Change 8. Ormskirk, 12/09.

2009

  • The effects of migration and dialect contact on the Aberdeen English vowel system. Accents 2009: III International conference on native and non-native accents of English. ?odz, 11/12.
  • The sociolinguistics of the Aberdeen vowel system. UK Language Variation and Change 7. Newcastle, 03/09.

2008

  • The emergence of social varieties in Ghanaian English. Accents 2008: II International conference on native and non-native accents of English. ?odz, 12/12. (with Magnus Huber)

  • Resistance and innovation in the accent of adolescents in Aberdeen. AILA?2008 - The 15th World Congress of Applied Linguistics. Essen, 28/08.
  • ‘You used to gerri’ in yer fishnets, now you only gerri’ in yer nightdress’: Regional and supraregional accents in English rock songs. The Thirteenth International Conference on Methods in Dialectology. Leeds, 04/08.
  • T-glottaling in adolescents in Aberdeen. Sociolinguistics Symposium 17. Amsterdam, 03/04.
  • ‘It’s jist, like, nae a posh language’: Migration, Dialect Contact and Constructions of Identity in Young Aberdonians. Copenhagen, 29/03.
  • Migration - Dialekt - soziale Identit?t: Ein Blick auf Jugendliche in Aberdeen. Workshop Sprache - Literatur - Migration. Gie?en, 16/01.

2007

  • Language variation and social identity in adolescents in Aberdeen. UK Language Variation and Change 6. Lancaster, 12/09.
  • Accent variation in adolescents in Aberdeen: first results for the variables (hw) and (th). 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Saarbrücken, 06/08.
  • Language change in North-East Scotland: a study of HW-loss in adolescents in Aberdeen. 2nd Northern Englishes Workshop. Edinburgh, 15/03.
  • Change in a traditional Scottish phoneme: HW-loss in adolescents in Aberdeen. 16. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Sprache und Sprachen. Bochum, 12/02.

2006

  • ‘Our pupils do NOT speak Doric, they speak Aberdonian!’: First impressions of a sociophonetic study of adolescents in Aberdeen. University of Aberdeen. Aberdeen, 02/10.

Invited talks and guest lectures

2018

  • Sociophonetics Workshop. University of Yaoundé I, 07-09/03

2017

  • The Diachronic Turn in New Englishes. Universit?t Bayreuth, 21.11.

2015

  • Sociophonetics Workshop. Justus-Liebig-Universit?t Gie?en, 17-19/08.
  • Tracing structural nativization in a New English: Insights from the compilation of the Historical Corpus of Ghanaian English. Technische Universit?t Chemnitz, 06/02.

2013

  • Designing a historic corpus of a 'New English': a case study of English in Ghana. Technische Universit?t Dresden. Dresden, 13/11.

  • The historic corpus of written Ghanaian English: an outline. Culture in Language: Language in Media, Variation in Research. Chemnitz, 18/07.

  • The interplay of Scots and English in Glasgow and Aberdeen: a sociophonetic perspective. Universit?t Siegen. Siegen, 17/01.

2012

  • Student Fieldwork in Ghana. Culture in Language: Language in Media, Variation in Research. Chemnitz, 13/07.

2011

  • Innovation, Conservatism, Confusion? Trying to Untangle Accent Variation in Aberdonian. Culture in Language: Language in Media, Variation in Research. Chemnitz, 02/07.

2009

  • Urban Voices: The interplay of Scots and English in Glasgow and Aberdeen. “Schlüsselthemen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik / Key Topics in English and American Studies”. Gie?en, 22/04.

2008

  • The Changing Face of Sociolinguistic Theory. Schlüsselthemen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik / Key Topics in English and American Studies. Gie?en, 25/06.

2007

  • Jugendkultur, Medien und Sprachwandel: Konstruktion sozialer Identit?t durch Sprache bei Jugendlichen in Schottland. Gie?ener Kulturwissenschaften heute und morgen: Eine Ringvorlesung und r?umliche Zeitreise des kulturwissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses der Justus-Liebig-Universit?t Gie?en. Gie?en, 09/05.
  • ‘Fit like? - Arrah!’: Lehreransichten zum Gebrauch des lokalen Dialekts im Schulkontext. Ringvorlesung ‘Educational Linguistics - Neue Perspektiven’. Gie?en, 08/05.

Conferences organised

2017

  • ISLE?Summer School 2017:?Variation in World Englishes: advanced issues in theory and methodology, Regensburg (co-main organiser)

2012-2014

  • Culture in Language:?Academic English, Variation in Research, Chemnitz (committee member)

2010

  • ICAME?31, Gie?en (committee member)

2009

  • Eight Creolistics Workshop, Gie?en (committee member)

2008

  • Norms in Educational Linguistics: Linguistic, Didactic and Cultural Perspectives – Normen in der Educational Linguistics: Linguistische, didaktische und kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, Gie?en (main organiser)
  • Workshop Sprache – Literatur – Migration, Gie?en (committee member)

2007

  • Seventh Creolistics Workshop, Gie?en (committee member)

Conferences attended

2007

  • 22. Kongress für Fremdsprachendidaktik der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung (DGFF), Gie?en

2006???

  • Dritte Arbeitstagung für den wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs in der Fremdsprachenforschung, Frankfurt
  • Sociolinguistics Symposium 16, Limerick
  • 28. Jahrestagung der DGfS, Bielefeld

  1. Faculty of Languages, Literature, and Cultures
  2. Department of English and American Studies

English Linguistics

Dr. Thorsten Brato

Dr. Thorsten Brato

Room PT 3.2.80
Phone+49(0)941-943-3504
Fax+49(0)941-943-1990
thorsten.brato@ur.de

Office hour: please contact me by email to arrange a (Zoom) meeting