Rowan Campbell

Overview

I am a PhD student in the field of sociolinguistics and language variation and change. I recently completed a placement in the British Library's Evolving English collection and co-presented a podcast about sociolinguistics while there.

Research: Dialect Levelling in Cardiff

This ESRC-funded PhD (2016-2020) researches changes in the Cardiff dialect over time. My data consists of sociolinguistic interviews with Cardiff residents, and audio recordings from the National Museum of Wales archives. Mixed methods in variationist sociolinguistics will be used to analyse the rates of selected features across the datasets from the perspective of dialect levelling, a process occurring across the UK whereby some regional accent variants are losing ground in favour of supralocal variants. Cardiff’s history of diversity and in-migration make it an interesting location to examine from this perspective, as these factors have already played a role in differentiating the Cardiff accent from other South Wales varieties of English.

Academic Background

• MA in Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University (2013-2014; Distinction)


• BA in English Language and Communication at Cardiff University (2010-2013; First Class Honours)