University of Manchester 2023

John Bellamy is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research interests predominantly include sociolinguistic approaches to identity, language as heritage, multilingualism, ideologies and linguistic practices of young people. He is currently involved in several projects that explore these ideas, such as the ‘Ground-breaking language’ project on the language of coal miners as heritage and the ‘Hip Hop and Home’ project on the role of music in the lives and language of young people. He recently co-edited The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization. 

Abstract: 

How do we perform, construct and negotiate authenticity through language? What linguistic and semiotic resources might we draw on for these purposes? We will explore these concepts in the context of post-industrial landscapes, where the complexity behind identity is often bound up with factors across the temporal interface of past, present and future. In the discussion of language and authenticity, we will look at a range of examples, including the language of industrial heritage, linguistic perspectives on modern music genres and contemporary attitudes towards local urban spoken varieties. To facilitate the analysis, we will be guided by research on indexing authenticity (Johnstone 2013), language ideologies (Gal and Irvine 2019) and language attitudes through spoken interaction (Bellamy 2022).

Bellamy, J. (2022). ‘Discourse Analysis of Spoken Interaction’. In: R. Kircher and L. Zipp (eds) Research Methods in Language Attitudes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 51-65.

Gal, S. and Irvine, J. (2019). Signs of difference: Language and ideology in social life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johnstone, B. (2013). ‘“100% Authentic Pittsburgh”: Sociolinguistic authenticity and the linguistics of particularity’. In V. Lacoste, J. Leimgruber and T. Breyer (eds) Indexing Authenticity: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Amsterdam: De Gruyter. 97-112.

Mai Nguyen is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the Department of Languages, Information, and Communications, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She has had more than 15 years of experience in teaching English and training second language teachers in the UK, Australia, and Vietnam. Her main research and teaching interests are i) aspects of teacher learning and professional development within and beyond teacher education programs, such as teacher identity, autonomy, and research engagement, and ii) Teaching English as an international language (EIL), with special interests in Asian varieties of English and EIL-aware pedagogy. Her current teacher development project, funded by the British Council, aims to develop English language teachers’ understanding of three key aspects of their professional identity: their being (perceptions of who they are and aspire to be as language teachers), their doing (pedagogy), and their feeling[s] (attitudes and emotional responses to teaching and learning events).  

Join us for a dinner at Kro Bar, a Manchester student favourite with Danish vibes, right opposite the Student Union. This is the perfect chance to get to know other attendees as well as the local and national committee. Please note, dinner is not provided by ULAB at this event. Food is affordable and there’s a student discount so bring your student id! You are also welcome to eat beforehand and join for drinks. We suspect this event may be followed by an impromptu bar crawl down Oxford road.

ULAB MANCHESTER 2023 is officially completed! We have exclusive hire of the 

student union until 10pm so join us for games, music and access to the theatre lounge bar to say goodbye to ULAB conference festivities until Spring next year. 

Get ready for Taskmaster as you’ve never seen it before: TaskmArtie, the ULAB edition. Battle it out with other ULABers as you complete devious linguistics-themed challenges, from songwriting to statue-building. You’ll definitely want to keep your conference trivia in mind. There may even be some Duolingo. All will be revealed.