Dr Jonathan Morris

(he/him)

BA, MA, PhD, FHEA

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Research Themes

Language variation and change in bilinguals' speech

The aim of my research in this area is to examine the extent to which linguistic and social factors (such as gender, community, and home language) influence language variation in both the Welsh and English of bilingual speakers. The work therefore takes a sociolinguistic approach to bilingualism and second language acquisition and compares how speakers produce their two languages. This can shed light on how features from one language are transferred to the other language and which factors influence cross-linguistic transfer.

My work on phonological and phonetic variation in the bilingual repertoire has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Sociolinguistics, International Journal of Bilingualism and Frontiers in Psychology as well as the co-edited volume Sociolinguistics in Wales (with Mercedes Durham). I also co-edited a special issue of Languages on this subject, entitled 'Social and Psychological Factors in Bilingual Speech Production' (with Robert Mayr). This volume contains contributions from leading international scholars and focuses on bilingual communities in Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.

I have contributed to successful applications for PhD scholarships in this area, funded by the Welsh Government, ESRC, and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and leading to further work on language variation in contemporary Welsh (Ianto Gruffydd) and the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in Welsh-medium education (Katharine Young).

As well as speech production, an important aspect of work in this area has been how people perceive bilingual speakers' accents. Together with Robert Mayr, I have published research on the extent to which people are able to perceive whether someone is a speaker of Welsh by listening to their English (which provides an indication of cross-linguistic transfer). We have also examined social evaluations of Welsh accents to ascertain how certain phonological features (and particularly non-traditional or English-influenced features) are stigmatised among the wider Welsh-speaking population.

I hope to shed light on the role of stylistic, contextual, and interactional factors on cross-linguistic transfer in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals. Using self-recordings from speakers, I completed an initial study of the use of code-switching among Welsh speakers in different social contexts (funded by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol). I am currently expanding on this work to include more speakers and linguistic features.

Language use and attitudes among traditional and new speakers

I am particularly intersted in the linguistic practices of Welsh speakers and particularly of those who have acquired the language outside of the home. My early work in this area investigated attitudes towards Welsh and use of the language amongst young people in Welsh-medium education.

I was co-investigator on a Welsh Government-funded research project on the transmission of Welsh and its use in the home. This project used quantitative methods based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in order to ascertain the extent to which personality traits influenced language use between parents and children. We also completed a thematic analysis of qualitative data to identify the common experiences of raising children in Welsh. Subsequently, I co-supervised a PhD thesis which examined the experience of raising children multilingually by focussing on families in Cardiff and Helsinki (Kaisa Pankakoski).

Second language acquisition in educational and adult learning contexts

I published an article on Welsh for Adults tutors' attitudes towards learners' speech (with Iwan Wyn Rees), and have also examined speech production in adult learners. I have also supervised postgraduate research in the production of suprasegmental features among Welsh learners from different backgrounds (Jack Pulman-Slater)

Our research on learners' speech led to the Watch Your Welsh project which uses MRI technology to help learners with pronunciation (with Leandro Beltrachini, Mara Cercignani, Iwan Wyn Rees, Andreas Papageorgiou, and Ivor Simpson). There is more information about this project here. 

More broadly, I am interested in the influence of social and psychological factors on second language acquisition among children and adult learners of Welsh. I have published on the reasons for learning Welsh among learners from international learners as well as the role of personality traits on learner motivations (with Charlotte Brookfield).

Intersecting identities and inclusion in minority-language communities, particularly LGBTQ+ speakers of Welsh

A growing number of studies focus on LGBTQ+ people in order to ascertain how LGBTQ+ identities intersect with other aspects of social identities, such as national and ethnic identities. My research (with Sam Parker) examines the intersection between minoritised linguistic and cultural identities and LGBTQ+ identities and focuses on LGBTQ+ speakers of Welsh.

This project brings together thematic, discursive psychological, and linguistic analyses to examine (1) the extent to which there is an intersection between different aspects of LGBTQ+ Welsh speakers’ identities and how this influenced their experiences of belonging, (2) how participants discursively construct their membership of both the LGBTQ+ and Welsh-speaking communities and (3) how they convey stances towards their identities in interaction.

Results from this project have been published in the volume Queering Language Revitalisation: Navigating Identity and Inclusion among Queer Speakers of Minority Languages (Cambridge University Press) and included case studies from Irish, Breton, Catalan, and Welsh (with John Walsh, Michael Hornsby, Eva J. Daussà, Renée Pera-Ros, and Holy R. Cashman).

Resources and digital infrastructure

I have contributed to a number of projects which have created Welsh-language digital resources. Much of this work stems from the National Corpus of Contemporary Welsh (led by Dawn Knight), funded by the AHRC and ESRC, and subsquent projects funded by Welsh Government:

• ACC: Welsh Automatic Text Summarisation with Dawn Knight, Mo El-Haj and Ignatius Ezeani.
• ThACC: Online Thesaurus of Contemporary Welsh with Dawn Knight, Mo El-Haj, Elin Arfon, and Nouran Khallaf.
• A Small Welsh Language Model Pilot for Sentiment Analysis Tests (with Dawn Knight, Mo El-Haj, and Paul Rayson).

Funded by the Central South Consortium Joint Education Service, I led on two projects to create a standardised reading test and standardised spelling test for learners in Welsh-medium education (with Rosanna Stenner , Geraint Palmer, and Dylan Foster Evans). These tests provide practitioners with a convenient diagnostic tool for reading and spelling accuracy and allow them to track learner progress over time.

Current Projects

• Social and psychological factors influencing Welsh learners' attitudes with Charlotte Brookfield.
• The social evaluation of Welsh accents with Robert Mayr and Ianto Gruffydd.
• Stylistic and interactional variation in contemporary Welsh with Katharine Young.
• Intersecting Identities: LGBTQ+ speakers of Welsh with Sam Parker.
• Speak for Yersel' Wales with  Mercedes Durham.
• Designing an assessment tool for Welsh learners with Hui Sun and Jack Pulman-Slater.
• Piloting the development of readability tools for Welsh with Dawn Knight and Fernando Alva Manchego.

Teaching

Teaching at Cardiff University

I teach (or have taught) modules on the Welsh language and linguistics. These include:

• Sgiliau Llafar yn y Gymraeg (Oral Skills in Welsh)
• Defnyddio'r Gymraeg (Using the Welsh Language)
• Cyflwyniad i'r Gymraeg (Introduction to the Welsh Language)
• Diwylliant y Gymraeg (Culture of the Welsh Language)
• Yr Ystafell Ddosbarth (The Classroom)

I have been module leader on the following modules:

• Y Gymraeg yn y Gymru Gyfoes (The Welsh Language in Contemporary Wales)
• Cymraeg y Gweithle a'r Gymuned (Welsh in the Workplace and Community)
• Yr Iaith Ar Waith (The Language at Work)
• Sosioieithyddiaeth (Sociolinguistics)
• Caffael Iaith (Language Acquisition)
• Blas ar Ymchwil (BA Research Project)
• Ymchwilio Estynedig (BA Dissertation)

I also teach on the MA in Welsh and Celtic Studies and deliver training to PhD students on data analysis in linguistics.

Previous Teaching in English Language and Linguistics

I have taught on the following modules in English language and linguistics:

• Introduction to Phonology
• Discourse Analysis
• Societal Multilingualism
• English Dialects

Previous Teaching of Welsh for Adult Learners

I have taught on the following courses for adults who are learning Welsh:

• National Sabbatical Scheme for Welsh Language Training
• Welsh in the Workplace (Further Education)
• GCSE Welsh Second Language (Further Education)
• Welsh for Adults

Biography

I completed a BA in French and German Studies, MA in Languages and Linguistics, and PhD in Linguistics from the University of Manchester. During my undergraduate degree, I spent time at the University of Bourgogne (Dijon, France) and Basel University (Switzerland). My early work focussed on the relationship between language and identity in the German-speaking countries.

I began work on Welsh sociolinguistics and phonetics (sociophonetics) during my Master’s degree and my PhD examines the influence of linguistic and social factors in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals.

I joined the School of Welsh as a research assistant in 2012. Before moving to Cardiff, I worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Manchester and as a lecturer in Welsh at Coleg Cambria, Wrexham. I have also worked as a research assistant on projects funded by the ESRC and British Academy.

Between September 2014 and August 2019, I was the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the School of Welsh. Since then, I have been Senior Lecturer and then Reader in Linguistics and Welsh Language.

Honours and awards

• Shortlisted for the ‘Innovating Across Borders’ category, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Associate Lecturers Awards, 2019.
• Shortlisted for Most Innovative Member of Staff Award, Cardiff University, 2016.

Professional memberships

• British Association of Academic Phoneticians
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Departmental & University Service

• Director of Research, School of Welsh (2022+)
• Academic Partner, Ignite Project (2024-2026)
• Co-Organiser of the Multilingualism Research Network (2019-2023)
• Director of Postgraduate Research (2017-2022)
• Chair, Cardiff University Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Branch (2018-2020)
• Ethics Officer, School of Welsh (2014-2017)
• Co-Organiser of the Sociolinguistics Reading Group (2013-2019)

Supervisions

I supervise postgraduate research students in the following areas:

• Sociolinguistics
• Language Variation and Change
• Sociology of Language
• Bilingualism
• Second Language Acquisition
• Phonetics and phonology

Current supervision

Katharine Young

Shawqi Bukhari

Mohammed Bashiri

Nia Eyre

Khadejah Alamri

Jonathan Davies

Kalbinur Tuerhong

Past projects

• Gruffydd, I. (2022) Astudiaeth o Amrywio Ieithyddol yng Nghyd-destun Adfywio Ieithyddol yng Nghymraeg Caerdydd [A Study of Language Variation in the Context of Language Revitalisation in Cardiff Welsh]. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
• Mihoubi, A. (2022). Investigating Language Policy from a Linguistic Justice Perspective in Multilingual Higher Education - A Case Study of the Science and Technology Schools in Adrar University, Algeria. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
• Pankakoski, K. (2023). A Study of Multilingual Families in Helsinki and Cardiff: Parental Language Ideologies, Family Language Policy, Intergenerational Language Transmission Experiences, and Children's Perspectives. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
• Pulman-Slater, J. (2023) Caffaeliad Prosodig Ymhlith Dysgwyr Brodorol ac Anfrodorol y Gymraeg: Astudiaeth o Aceniad Geirfaol a Goslef Frawddegol [The Acquistion of Prosody Amongst Native and Non-Native Learners: A Study of Lexical Stress and Sentential Intonation]. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
• Screen, B. (2018) Defnyddio Cyfieithu Awtomatig a Chof Cyfieithu wrth Gyfieithu o’r Saesneg i’r Gymraeg: Astudiaeth Ystadegol o Ymdrech, Cynhyrchedd ac Ansawdd gan Ddefnyddio Data Cofnodwyr Trawiadau Bysell a Thracio Llygaid [Using Automatic Translation and Translation Memory in translating from English to Welsh: A Statistical Study of Effort, Productivity and Quality using Data Keystroke-logging and Eye-tracking Data]. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
• Young, K. (2025) The Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Competence in a Welsh Immersion Context. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.