![Emma Humphries](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/4699?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Emma Humphries
(she/her)
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of English, Communication and Philosophy
- HumphriesE5@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 29208 70570
- John Percival Building, Room 2.14, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Overview
During the academic year 23/24, I am a Lecturer in Linguistics based in ENCAP.
I am a sociolinguist and my work focuses on language attitudes and ideologies and on language policy.
I competed my PhD in French Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham in 2021 and since then have held positions on the AHRC-funded projects 'Promoting Language Policy' (University of Cambridge) and 'Foreign, indigenous and community languages in the devolved regions of the UK: policy and practice for growth' (Queen's University Belfast).
Publication
2024
- Humphries, E., Carruthers, J. and Henderson, L. 2024. Qualifications in home languages: Opportunities, barriers and policy implications. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (10.1080/01434632.2023.2288292)
- Humphries, E. 2024. Croient or croivent: French language commentary on Twitter. Nottingham French Studies 62(3), pp. 314-333. (10.3366/nfs.2023.0391)
2023
- Humphries, E. and Ayres-Bennett, W. 2023. The hidden face of public language policy: a case study from the UK. Current Issues in Language Planning 24(5), pp. 508-533. (10.1080/14664208.2022.2150497)
- Humphries, E. and Walsh, O. 2023. Metaphor as a manifestation of prescriptivism: The case of France and Quebec. In: Beal, J. C., Lukac, M. and Straaijer, R. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Prescriptivism. Routledge, pp. 427-446.
- Humphries, E. and Ayres-Bennett, W. 2023. The hidden face of the UK's public language policy. Project Report. [Online]. Languages, Society and Policy. Available at: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/354295
2019
- Humphries, E. 2019. #JeSuisCirconflexe: The French spelling reform of 1990 and 2016 reactions. Journal of French Language Studies 29(3), pp. 305-321. (10.1017/S0959269518000285)
Articles
- Humphries, E., Carruthers, J. and Henderson, L. 2024. Qualifications in home languages: Opportunities, barriers and policy implications. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (10.1080/01434632.2023.2288292)
- Humphries, E. 2024. Croient or croivent: French language commentary on Twitter. Nottingham French Studies 62(3), pp. 314-333. (10.3366/nfs.2023.0391)
- Humphries, E. and Ayres-Bennett, W. 2023. The hidden face of public language policy: a case study from the UK. Current Issues in Language Planning 24(5), pp. 508-533. (10.1080/14664208.2022.2150497)
- Humphries, E. 2019. #JeSuisCirconflexe: The French spelling reform of 1990 and 2016 reactions. Journal of French Language Studies 29(3), pp. 305-321. (10.1017/S0959269518000285)
Book sections
- Humphries, E. and Walsh, O. 2023. Metaphor as a manifestation of prescriptivism: The case of France and Quebec. In: Beal, J. C., Lukac, M. and Straaijer, R. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Prescriptivism. Routledge, pp. 427-446.
Monographs
- Humphries, E. and Ayres-Bennett, W. 2023. The hidden face of the UK's public language policy. Project Report. [Online]. Languages, Society and Policy. Available at: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/354295
Research
Current project
My current project considers the relationship between linguistic prescriptivism and popular culture over time, using French- and English- language contexts as case studies.
Linguistic prescriptivism is all around us, whether we are conscious of it or not. When we think about French prescriptivism, the Académie française, whose statements concerning the French language regularly make the news, might come to mind, but it goes far beyond this. Prescriptivism is a part of popular culture and for centuries, has instructed speakers on how to correctly use their language and, in some cases, the social repurcussions of ignoring such advice.
My new project considers how prescriptivism and popular culture intersect across time in three main ways:
- How prescriptivist texts are a part of popular culture
- How prescriptivism and prescriptivists are discussed and referenced in popular culture
- How popular culture figures and references become a part of prescriptivist imagery and tropes.
Prescriptivism can have real consequences for those who cannot or do not use the standard language. In its analysis of how and where prescriptivism manifests in popular culture, this project aims to help to challenge ideas about language which often go unquestioned yet have tangible consequences for, for example, mobility.
Teaching
SE1113 How Language Works 1
SE1115 Developing English: History and Society
SE1116 Understanding Communication
SE1369 Sociolinguistics
SET006 Current Issues in Sociolinguistics
Research themes
Specialisms
- Sociolinguistics
- Language policy
- Language attitudes and ideologies