Language and identity

The way that language is used and identities constructed is explored in detail across a number of our academic Schools.

We explore cognitive processing, social interaction, intonation, lexis and grammar, to understand and advance research into language learning and language loss.

Our work on professional and public discourse helps us to understand how vulnerable children and adults are disadvantaged within legal settings, and how language might best be used to communicate with those needing dementia or cancer care.

We help professionals to modify language use to suit their clients but also support better language acquisition: a current project is identifying Welsh learners' speech production problems and ways to combat these.

We also explore language planning and policies. An ESRC project aims to identify best practice principles of official language regulation and the role of Language Commissioners in Wales, Ireland and Canada.

Understanding of how people communicate mulitlingually across diverse langages and cultures is being expanded via our involvement in a £2m cross-institutional AHRC research project on Translation and Translanguaging: Investigating Linguistic and Cultural Transformations in Superdiverse Wards in Four UK Cities.

Consideration of what develops national and individual identity is key to our research. We explore concepts of nationalism, 'otherness', the impact of migration on identity and how art, poetry and theatre change our cultural memory of previous events such as the Spanish Civil War and World War I. A study applying post-colonial theory to the traumatic legacies in South Asia has led to the development of a Re-Constructing Multiculturalism interdisciplinary network.