Dr Christopher Shank
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics (Language Variation and Change)
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Additional Contact Information
School of Languages, Literature & Linguistics
Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 听01248 38 3590
Qualifications
- Professional: LSA Summer Institute - University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. USA 2001
- MA: Master of Arts in TESOL
School for International Training (SIT), - MEd: Master of Arts in Language Literacy & Sociocultural Studies 鈥 Bilingualism and Bilingual Education Specialization
The University of New Mexico, - PhD: Ph.D. in Linguistics
The University of New Mexico, - BA: Bachelor of Arts
University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Teaching and Supervision
Classes / modules taught at Bangor:
QXL 1111 Describing Language
QXL 1116 Introduction to Semantics & Pragmatics.
QXL 1117 Introduction to Syntax & Morphology
QXL 2202 Meaning & Mind
QXL 2222 History of English
QXL 3341 UG Dissertation
QXL 3347 Language Change (for undergraduates)
QXL 3363 Language Culture & Power (for undergraduates)
QXL 3377 Corpus Linguistics Theory & Practice (for undergraduates)
QXL 4411 Foundations of Linguistics I
QXL 4431 Foundations of Linguistics II
QXL 4447 Language Change for post graduate taught students)
QXL 4463 Language Culture & Power (for post graduate taught students)
QXL 4477 Corpus Linguistics Theory & Practice for post graduate taught students
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Master鈥檚 Thesis Supervised at Bangor:
2020 听听听听 Monther Mohammad Alluhaidah. 鈥楢 CDA Analysis of Al Jazeera鈥檚 Online Coverage of the War in Yemen Pre and Post KSA鈥檚 Qatar Crisi蝉鈥.
2020 听听听听 Constance Croguennec. 鈥樷楲ife is a journey鈥: How do transgender and gender non-conforming people conceptualize and describe the development of their gender identity?
2020 听听听听 Susan Bod. 鈥楥ulture in ELT in Kuwait: teachers鈥 perspectives.
2020 听听听听 Malak Ibrahim Al Zamanan. 鈥楶arental attitudes towards their children's participation in English language education immersion programmes in Saudi Arabia鈥
2019听听听听听 Luis Felipe Garc铆a Monta帽o 听鈥Le he escrito hace un hora, a corpus-based descriptive analysis of the use of the 鈥楶ret茅rito Perfecto Compuesto鈥 in domains of the 鈥楶ret茅rito Perfecto Simple鈥 in spoken and written Latin American Spanish鈥.
2019 听听听听听 Elliott Aboagye 鈥楢 sociolinguistic and Critical Discourse Analysis of Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 portrayal of the African American experience鈥
2019 听听听听 Owen Middlemas 鈥Using Coxhead and Hirsch鈥檚 (2007) Science specific word list to predict academic success in the Sciences at GCSE level: A Case study鈥
2019 听听听听听听 Abdullah Azib Alghamdi 鈥Major lexical changes within the Bilad Ghamd region of Saudi Arabia鈥
2018 听听听听Alaw Mon Griffiths. 鈥Cross cultural, cross linguistic study into the perception of the term Feminist in Wales鈥.
2018听听听听 Ashwaq A Alsulami. 鈥楢 sociolinguistic analysis of the use of Arabizi in social media among Saudi Arabians鈥
2018听听听听 Taghreed Al Thiayabat听 鈥Investigating Saudi versus Jordanian undergraduate English Language Studies students鈥 spelling errors
2017听听听听 Justin Thompson. 鈥A corpus-based analysis of negative responsives in the speech of Welsh speaking adults鈥.
2017听听听听 Llinos Gough 鈥What does it mean to be gay in UK media? A diachronic corpus-based investigation into the representation of sexual orientation in British newspapers鈥.
2016听听听听 Hernando Andr茅s Jim茅nez Rocha. 鈥Spanish First Person Singular Subject Pronoun Usage in Spoken Castilian Spanish: A Morphosyntactic and Pragmatic Approach鈥.
2015 听听听听Osama Sultan S Alruwaili听听 鈥Using Discourse Analysis on the Language of the Terrorist Group ISIS as a means of identifying the ideology beneath the rhetoric鈥.
2015听听听听 Alaa Alahmadi 鈥Exploring Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Saudi undergraduate EFL students at King Abdulaziz University and its relationship to their vocabulary size鈥.
2015 听听听听Javier Morras Cortes 鈥Chilean Cultural models and figurative meaning extension鈥.
2014听听听听 Harry Bradford 鈥Identifying linguistic trends in suicide notes over a 50 year period: a diachronic corpus based approach鈥.
2014听听听听 Qianwen Cheng听听听 鈥A Construction Grammar Approach to the Family of Chinese caused-Motion Construction蝉鈥.
2014听听听 Farissa Ahmad Fisol. 鈥Using Style Markers for Authorship Identification鈥.
2014听听听 Gareth Monk 鈥楢 corpus linguistic authorship analysis of the Eddie Gilfoyle case鈥
2013听听听 Alexander Cornford听听 鈥The Language of Food Advertising: How is food represented in advertising and how does it affect choice?鈥
2012听听听 Abtesam Alshallam 鈥Negation errors in Arabic learners of English鈥.
2012 听听听听Thomas Beakes 鈥楨xamining the impact Ideology in discourse鈥
2012听听听听 Hannah Coustick 鈥楤ias in media/discourse with respect to gender and education鈥
2012听听听听 Jonathan Hughes 听鈥楧iscourse analysis and public opinion鈥
Current PhD Student Supervision 鈥 as 1st Supervisor
Mr Atheer Abdulhadi Ras Aljubouri.听 鈥楻epresentation of Iraqis in Hollywood Films in pre and post US led intervention in Iraq:听 A Critical Discourse 麻豆传媒高清版鈥.
Ms. Shailaja Bakshi. 鈥楨xamining Lexico-Grammatical Argument Structure Patterns in Native and Non-Native Varieties of South Asian English:听 A Corpus Based Analysis of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan English.
Mr Osama Sultan S Alruwaili. 鈥楿nderstanding ISIS鈥檚 Ideology, Goals & Propaganda techniques: A Critical Discourse Analysis of ISIS Recruitment Techniques and Tactics Targeting British Muslim Youth鈥.听
As 2nd supervisor:
Mr Alaa Othman A Alahmadi.听 'Exploring the effect of lexical inferencing and lexical translation on Saudi undergraduate EFL students鈥 vocabulary retention'.
Ms Maram Alamri. 鈥楨xploring the encoding of motion in verbs in English by L1 Arabic-speaking learners of English鈥.
Mr Alessandro Arioli.听 鈥"Mutual intelligibility among Gallo-Italic, Occitan, Franco-Proven莽al and Tuscan geolects as a heuristic addressing issues in the classification of Romance languages".
Research Interests
I have a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I also hold two Masters degrees; an MA (MPhil) in Language Literacy & Sociocultural Studies with a Bilingualism and Bilingual Education Specialization, also from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Arts in TESOL from the SIT Graduate Institute, Brattleboro, VT. Finally, I have a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin 鈥 Madison where I majored in 3 subjects: International Relations, Political Science, and History
In addition to my academic degrees I also completed a 3-year post-doc with Professor Hubert Cuyckens, as a member of the Functional Linguistics Leuven (FLL) Research Unit, in the Department of Linguistics at KU Leuven in Leuven, Belgium.听 Our research was conducted as part of a larger 听Grammaticalization and (Inter) Subjectification) GRAMIS project 听which was funded by the Belgian national research programme.听
My research interests and expertise are in the field of language variation, use and change in both monolingual and bilingual contexts.听 I approach language and cognition from a usage-based / functionally oriented perspective and I utilize qualitative, corpus-based, quantitative and ethnographic听 methodologies in my research.听
As a corpus-linguist I study language variation, use and change, primarily within the domains of syntax, semantics and epistemic expression, in both synchronic and diachronic contexts. 听听I also work in the field of bilingualism and multilingualism where I specialize in bilingual and multilingual identity construction, (re) construction, and concomitant issues related to identity, voice, power, representation and performativity.听 I am also part of an interdisciplinary collaboration with Public Health Wales 鈥 Cardiff where I am researching healthcare delivery, communication and outcomes for the Deaf community in Wales and conducting the first comprehensive research on and survey of the use, linguistic features and geographical distribution of Welsh dialect(s) of British Sign Language. 听听Finally, I also use (CDA)听 Critical Discourse Analyses and Multimodal methodologies to investigate issues of power, inequality, racism, sexism 听and the impact of linguistic and cultural hegemony, in the domains of political discourse, journalism, social media, EFL methodology, etc.听
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
I am prepared (and have supervised) MA and PhD level qualitative, quantitative and ethnographically orientated research projects in the 听following areas: using spoken and written corpora to explore synchronic and diachronic texts in terms of language variation, use and 听change (in English as well as other languages), comparing and contrasting World Englishes,听 sociolinguistic variation, language contact and change, functional and descriptive approaches to grammar, polysemy, epistemicity, inter-subjectivity, conceptual metaphor & metonymy, multimodal analysis, and critical discourse analysis (CDA).听 I have also supervised projects that look at aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism with respect to the issue of bilingual and multilingual identity, identity construction and (reconstruction), performativity and research questions that have explored the interrelationships between language, culture, power, gender, and language use.听 Finally, I have also supervised projects that have looked at TEFL methodology, critical pedagogy, and linguistic imperialism and cultural hegemony on EFL students.
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Publications
2020
- Published
Shank, C. & Foltz, A., 23 Oct 2020, In: Frontiers in Communication. 5, 572855.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review - Published
Webb-Davies, P. & Shank, C., Mar 2020, In: Gwerddon. 30, p. 23-39
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review
2019
- Published
Foltz, A. & Shank, C., 28 Nov 2019, The Conversation.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication 鈥 Featured article - Published
Shank, C. & Foltz, A., Nov 2019, 麻豆传媒高清版. 50 p.
Research output: Book/Report 鈥 Commissioned report 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C. & Foltz, A., Nov 2019, 麻豆传媒高清版.
Research output: Book/Report 鈥 Commissioned report 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C. & Plevoets, K., 7 May 2019, In: Research in Corpus Linguistics. 2018 (6), p. 83-112 30 p., 6.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C. & Foltz, A., Sept 2019.
Research output: Contribution to conference 鈥 Poster 鈥 peer-review
2018
- Published
Shank, C. & Foltz, A., 26 Nov 2018, Public Health Wales, Cardiff. 36 p.
Research output: Book/Report 鈥 Commissioned report 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C., Foltz, A. & Alahmadi, A., 15 Dec 2018, In: Vocabulary Learning and Instruction. 7, 1, p. 14-34 21 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review
2016
- Published
Shank, C., Plevoets, K. & Van Bogaert, J., 8 Sept 2016, Corpus-based approaches to Construction Grammar. Yoon, J. & Gries, S. T. (eds.). John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 201-240 (Constructional Approaches to Language; vol. 19).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥 Chapter 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C., 31 Aug 2016, In: International Journal of Language & Linguistics. 3, 3, p. 19-33 15 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review - Published
Shank, C. C., Van Bogaert, J. & Plevoets, K., 1 May 2016, In: Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. 12, 1, p. 31-72
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥 Article 鈥 peer-review
2014
- Published
Shank, C., Plevoets, K. & Cuyckens, H., 6 Nov 2014, Corpus Methods for Semantics. Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy.. Glynn, D. & Robinson, J. A. (eds.). UK: John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 279-303 24 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥 Chapter 鈥 peer-review
2009
- Published
Shank, C. C., Cuyckens, H., Shank, C., Slembrouck, S. (Editor), Taverniers, M. (Editor) & Van Herreweghe, M. (Editor), 1 Jan 2009, From Will to Well. Studies in linguistics offered to Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. 2009 ed. Academia Press, p. 117-134
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥 Chapter
2005
- Published
Shank, C. C., John-Steiner, V., Shank, C., Meehan, T., Quasthoff, U. M. (Editor) & Becker, T. (Editor), 1 Jan 2005, Narrative Interaction. 2005 ed. John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 169-195
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥 Chapter
Activities
2023
The primary objective of this project, and the investigative consortium, is to develop a Pan-Wales network, in coordination with and led by Deaf community leaders and local partners, to identify people, assets, and services and to collect personal experiences, and improve participation and involvement with respect to five subject areas (or research hubs) that impact the health and wellbeing of the Deaf community in Wales: (1) law and equality, (2) public health, (3) mental health, (4) interpreting services, and (5) language and communication.
In collaboration with: Dr Anouschka Foltz, Associate Professor in English Linguistics, Institute of English Studies, University of Graz, Austria; Dr Julia Terry, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, Swansea University, Wales; Dr. Rob Wilks, Senior Lecturer in Law, Faculty of Creative Industries, University of South Wales, Wales (BSL user); Dr. Sara Rhys-Jones, Clinical Psychologist, Swansea Bay UHB - Learning Disabilities (BSL user); Louise Sweeney, Chief Executive Officer, Wales Council for Deaf People, Pontypridd, Wales; Sarah Thomas, Managing Director, Centre of Sign-Sight-Sound (COS), Colwyn Bay Wales; Paul Redfern, (retired BDA) Chair, All Wales Deaf Mental Health, and Wellbeing Group (BSL user); Michelle Fowler-Powe, Access and Inclusion Advocacy Coordination, British Deaf Association. (BSL user); Rebecca Mansell, Chief Executive Officer, British Deaf Association (BDA); Roger Hewitt, retired, British Society for Mental Health and Deafness (BSMHD) (BSL user); Helen Green MSc, MPH, Programme Manager, Public Health Wales, Cardiff ; Anne Silman, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Bangor, Gwynedd.
Funding awarded through the 麻豆传媒高清版 Innovation and Impact Award (Research Wales Innovation Funding). Value = 拢34,347
1 Aug 2023 鈥 31 Jul 2024
Activity: Other (Contributor)
2020
Languages (ISSN 2226-471X) is an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed open access journal on interdisciplinary studies of languages, and is published quarterly online by MDPI.
2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member)
2019
Health and Wellbeing for Deaf Communities in Wales: Scoping for a Wales-Wide Survey
28 Nov 2019
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Invited speaker)Defnydd hanesyddol a chyfoes o mynd i yn y Gymraeg: Astudiaeth o ramadegoli fel newid iaith. [Historical and contemporary use of mynd i 鈥榞o to鈥 in Welsh: A study of grammaticalization as language change.]
23 Sep 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member)The main aim is to find out how native English speakers read and understand sentences in English, specifically with respect to the mental state complement-taking verbs think, guess, know and believe. The goal of this project is to explore the question 鈥榠s the presence or absence of the complementizer 鈥榯hat鈥 (i.e. complementizer alternation) a case of grammatical complexity or simplification?
To this end, two self-paced reading tasks using the software package E-Prime were designed whereby participants will read sentences one word at a time, on a computer monitor, and answered comprehension questions about the sentences. The objective of this study is to increase our understanding of how native English speakers understand and process sentences containing complement clauses versus those without in English. An example of this are the sentences 鈥楬e thinks that this dog is going to run away鈥 versus 鈥楬e thinks this dog is going to run away鈥 where the latter sentence omits the complementizer or contains the 鈥榸ero form鈥. In addition to examining complementizer alternation (i.e. that/zero) we will also test for the potential impact that additional constituents in either the matrix clause, complement clause or between the matrix and complement clause have with respect to processing time (see attached doc). Both tasks have been specifically designed to test the literature, and its concomitant claims, on structural aspects and impact on complementizer alternation patterns with respect to outstanding psycholinguistic questions regarding the issue of processing and grammatical complexity or simplification.
22 Aug 2019
Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)Sentence processing and the that/zero complementizer alternation: Investigating grammatical complexity and predictive processing
21 Aug 2019 鈥 24 Aug 2019
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Using a diachronic multivariate corpus-based analysis and the SCOTUS Law Corpus to (re)-examine the impact of verb type, structural factors, and formality of register on that/zero complementizer alternation patterns
25 Jul 2019
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
2018
Member of the Scientific Committee.
23 Oct 2018 鈥 26 Oct 2018
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Member of programme committee)Wales School for Social Care Research - Capacity Building Small Grants Award.
Principle objectives: Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of parenting classes in BSL: Developing culturally-sensitive learning materials.
1 Apr 2018 鈥 31 Mar 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Work on advisory panels for social community and cultural engagement (Contributor)
2017
Using the GloWbE Corpus and a multifactorial analysis to investigate that/zero complementizer variation in World Englishes for evidence of morphosyntactic variation(s)鈥
13 Sep 2017
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Newid yn nefnydd mynd i yn y Gymraeg I fynegi鈥檙 dyfodol: Astudiaeth gorpws o ramadegoli hanesyddol.
31 Aug 2017
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Participant)Using the CORE Corpus and a multivariate analysis to (re)examine the impact of register and structural factors on that/zero complementizer variation in five mental state verbs (MSVs).
27 Jul 2017
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Member of the Scientific Committee.
26 Apr 2017 鈥 28 Apr 2017
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Member of programme committee)
2016
Developing a TOUCHING is BELIEVING ICM: Using a diachronic corpus based approach to examine transitivity and epistemicity
23 Jul 2016
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Zero complementizer constructions and the emergence of epistemic parentheticals: A diachronic corpus based multivariate analysis
24 Apr 2016
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Reviewer for Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory: CLLT
2016 鈫
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member)
2014
Contrasting that/zero variation in mental state (MSVs) and verbs of locution (VoLs): A diachronic corpus based multivariate analysis
30 Jul 2014
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)Structural features as predictors for that/zero variation in mental state verbs (MSVs): A diachronic corpus based multivariate analysis
17 Jul 2014
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)The development of 鈥榤ynd i鈥 as a future construction in Welsh: A case of language contact grammaticalization?
16 Jun 2014
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Participant)
2013
Workshop co-organizer
22 Jul 2013 鈥 26 Jul 2013
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Organiser)
Projects
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01/02/2024 鈥 15/02/2027 (Active)
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01/08/2018 鈥 01/08/2022 (Finished)
Other Grants and Projects
2020 - Santander Mobility Grant to work with Professor Ronice M眉ller de Quadros at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil and learn more about the best research practices she has developed for working with Deaf communities.
Awarded 拢970.00听
2020 - Open Access Publication fee grant for article to appear in the Frontiers in Public Health from the University of Graz, Austria. Co-author and applicant lead Dr Anouschka Foltz, University of Graz, Austria.
Awarded 拢1,000听
2018 - Public Health Wales - Scoping 麻豆传媒高清版: Health and Deafness in Wales Survey.听 Co-lead Dr Anouschka Foltz, University of Graz, Austria.
Principle objectives: 1) To develop and pilot an appropriate tool/method to collate views on factors influencing health of d/Deaf populations in Wales.听 2) To complete a literature review on the health and care needs of the d/Deaf communities in the UK and Wales. 3) To complete a small qualitative study to explore (1) the barriers and enablers to staying healthy in d/Deaf communities, and (2) potential actions for different professional groups (e.g. local authority, schools, employers, planning, health promotion materials, health service (pharmacy, GPs, hospital care)).听 听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
Awarded 拢10,000听听听
2018- Wales School for Social Care Research - Capacity Building Small Grants Award.
Co-PI with Dr Anouschka Foltz, University of Graz, Austria and Sarah Matthews, Chief Exec, Centre of Sign-Sight-Sound, Colwyn Bay, Wales
Principle objectives: Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of parenting classes in BSL: Developing culturally-sensitive learning materials.
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Other Information
Education
Ph.D. in Linguistics, Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. USA
Dissertation Title: 鈥The Relationship between Metaphorical Language Use and Transitivity:听 A Usage-Based Corpus Linguistic Case 麻豆传媒高清版 of Four English Verbs of Tactile Perception: Touch, Hold, Handle and Feel鈥.听
Master of Arts in Language Literacy & Sociocultural Studies 鈥 Bilingualism and Bilingual Education Specialization, Department of Language Literacy Sociocultural Studies, College of Education, University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM. USA
Thesis Title: 鈥Flemish (Dutch) and Walloon (French) Identity Construction with Respect to Bilingual Education in Belgium鈥.
Master of Arts in TESOL. School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT. USA
Thesis Title: 鈥From Culture Shock to Assimilation: A Case 麻豆传媒高清版 of EFL Lecturers in Kwangju, South Korea鈥.
Bachelor of Arts听 Majors (3) : International Relations, Political Science, and History. University of Wisconsin 鈥 Madison, WI. USA
Thesis Title: 听鈥Denmark and NATO membership: Present and Future Challenges鈥