Dr Gili Diamant

(she/her)

PhD

Overview

My research explores various aspects of variation and change in the English language.

Much of my work focuses on the English(es) spoken in Ireland and on grammatical variation within Irish English. I am interested in exploring the outcomes of language contact and the cognitive mechanisms underlying such processes. My other interests relate to grammatical constructions and their function in the discourse, especially in oral narratives.

My most recent work takes a Construction Grammar and cognitive approaches to analyzing the expression of the conceptual category of possession in Irish English, and the potential effects that Irish may have had on its variation from other English varieties. My work is corpus-based, looking at the speech of Irish English speakers in rural communities in the west of Ireland (Co. Clare). My current research explores periphrastic causative constructions in Irish English, focusing on the variation in the uses of the verbs HAVE and GET, as well as more uniquely-Irish causative verbs such as PUT. Another research strand explores the strucutre of oral narratives, looking at the pragmatic function of linguistic constructions in Irish English narratives (both in traditional storytelling and in contemporary contexts).

In 2022-2023 I worked as a research associate with Mercedes Durham (PI) on the project "Sociolinguistic Variation in South East Wales: Change and Contact" (funded by the Leverhulme Trust). The project explores similarities and differences in the varieties spoken in South East Wales as they arise from a recently-compiled corpus of Welsh English speech.