Dr Deborah Chirrey

Programme Leader for BA (Hons) English Language

Before coming to Edge Hill in 1994, I worked for several years on the Historical Thesaurus of English research project at Glasgow University. I also taught part-time at the University in the Department of English Language, and registered there for a PhD.
My research interests originally centred on various phonetic aspects of Scottish English and Scots, whilst my PhD research was into the acoustic and articulatory characteristics of a group of consonants in accents of Scottish English. Since then, my research activities have developed into other areas. I am interested in how language represents and constructs sexual and gender identities, and in using discourse and conversational analysis to analyse how lesbian and gay identities, in particular, are created and maintained in written and spoken discourse. I am exploring the ways in which advice literature that is aimed at young people who are coming out as gay or lesbian, represents that experience. At the moment I am writing on the use and effect of metaphor in these texts.

My teaching reflects all of these interests, directly and indirectly. I contribute to or lead the following undergraduate modules on the BA (Hons) English Course:

• LNG1000 Language Foundation
• LNG 2100 History and Development of English
• LNG 2103 Child Language Acquisition
• LNG 2104 Discourse Analysis
• LNG 2106 Phonetics and Phonology
• LNG 3101 Language and Gender
• LNG 3103 Communicating Sexuality
• LNG 3109 Forensic Linguistics

I lead these modules on the MA in English Language Studies:

• MLN 1001 Analysing Talk
• MLN1004 Language, Sexuality and Gender

I am currently Programme Leader for BA (Hons) English Language, English, English Language and English Literature degrees. I particularly enjoy the opportunity this gives me to meet and talk to prospective students and their families on Open Days and Visit Days.