Dr Virpi Ylänne
Senior Lecturer
School of English, Communication and Philosophy
- ylanne@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5049
- 3.34, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
- Available for postgraduate supervision
I have been a member of the Centre for Language and Communication Research for the past 25 years. I have expertise in Discourse Analysis, Interactional Sociolinguistics, and qualitative research methods. My research interests fall within ageing and identity in talk, text and image (e.g. advertising) and institutional discourse.
My current administrative role is Director of our MA programmes (PGT Director). We have four MA programmes (Applied Linguistics; Forensic Linguistics; Language and Linguistics; Language and Communication Research), which are described on our web pages: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/english-communication-philosophy/courses/postgraduate-taught
I'm also a member of the ENCAP Research Ethics Committee and the PGR Extenuating Circumstances committee.
I gained my BA Humanities (Linguistics) from Hatfield, PGCE in TES/FL and MA in Applied Linguistics from University of Wales, Bangor, and PhD from University of Wales, Cardiff.
With regard to my research, I was involved in the 'Language and Tourism as a Global Cultural Industry' strand of the Centre's Leverhulme-funded Language and Global Communication project (2001-2006). During 2004-2007 I co-directed (with Dr Angie Williams) a three year ESRC-funded project on Images of Elders in UK Media: Perceptions and Representations which focused on print media and TV advertising, using Content Analysis and Discourse Analysis of focus group discussions as methods. An edited volume Representing Ageing: Images and Identities (2012, Palgrave Macmillan) followed up some of the themes from the research project.
I have organised workshops and symposia around this theme, too, at the Sociolinguistics Symposium (2008), the VII European Congress of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Bologna, 2011), Cultural Gerontology conference (Galway, 2014) and NordMedia conference (Tampere, 2017). I have also carried out collaborative research on community pharmacy interactions from a Discourse Analytic point of view. My current research project examines discourses of parenting at a later age, focusing on news media and personal narratives. I'm also a member of a research team investigating nurse handover interaction in a hospital ward.
Professional memberships
Member of European Network in Aging Studies (ENAS)
Speaking engagements
- Invited keynote at Ages2020, Milan, Italy, October 29th-30th 2020.
- Invited keynote at Age Talks? Communicating Ages in the Communication Age, Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary, May 9th 2019.
- Invited speaker at COST Action IS1402 on Ageism, October 26th 2018, Brussels, Belgium.
- Invited keynote at Ageing and Old Age in the Media and Elderly People’s Media Use symposium, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, May 4th 2017.
- Invited speaker at 5th International Symposium in Communication and Consumption (COMUNICON 2016), ESPM, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 13th 2016.
Committees and reviewing
Member of the scientific committee of Sociolinguistics Symposium 2020, Hong Kong.
Member of the organising committee and scientific committee of ALAPP (Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice) conference, Cardiff University, September 17th-19th 2018.
2020
- Ylanne, V. 2020. Media positionings of older people. In: Phelan, A. and O’Shea, D. eds. Changing Horizons in the 21st century: Perspectives on Ageing. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
- Bartlett, T.et al. 2020. Nursing handovers as unbounded and scalar events. Applied Linguistics Review
2019
- Spilioti, T.et al. 2019. Conceptualizing language awareness in healthcare communication: The case of nurse shift-change handover meetings. Language Awareness 28(3), pp. 207-226. (10.1080/09658416.2019.1636803)
- Ylanne, V. and Nikander, P. 2019. Being an 'older parent': Chrononormativity and practices of stage of life categorisation. Text and Talk 39(4), pp. 465-487. (10.1515/text-2019-2036)
- Ylanne, V. 2019. Midlife and gender. In: Gu, D. and Dupre, M. E. eds. Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer
- Ylanne, V. 2019. 'Do you want to be categorized as one of the over fifty-fives'? Intergenerational relations in a public context. In: Harwood, J. et al. eds. Language, Communication, and Intergroup Relations: A Celebration of the Scholarship of Howard Giles. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 182-186.
2018
- Potts, A. and Ylanne, V. 2018. “Forget the stroppy, whingeing young who blame us wrinklies for Brexit!” A corpus-based discourse analysis of media representation of voter age and identity following the EU Referendum. Presented at: Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, Aalborg, Denmark, 4-6 July 2018.
- Ylanne, V. 2018. Representacoes dos velhos e da velhice na propaganda do seculo XXI (Representations of older adults and ageing in the 21st century advertising media). In: Castro, G. G. S. and Hoff, T. eds. Communicacao, Consumo e Envelhecimento no Contemporaneo: Perspectivas Multidisciplinares. [Representacoes dos velhos e da velhice na propaganda do seculo XXI]. Editora Sulina, pp. 95-113.
2017
- Ylanne, V. 2017. Representations of ageing and infertility in the twenty-first century British press. In: Davis, G. and Loughran, T. eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History: Approaches, Contexts and Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
2016
- Ylänne, V. 2016. Too old to parent? Discursive representations of late parenting in the British press. Discourse & Communication 10(2), pp. 176-197. (10.1177/1750481315611242)
2015
- Ylanne, V. 2015. Representations of ageing in the media. In: Twigg, J. and Martin, W. eds. Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. Routledge International Handbooks London: Routledge, pp. 369-376.
2014
- Ylanne, V. 2014. Bert Hayslip and Gregory C. Smith (eds), Resilient grandparent caregivers: a strengths-based perspective, Routledge (Taylor & Francis), New York, 2013, 268 pp., pbk £30.99, ISBN 13: 978 0 415 89755 6. [Book Review]. Ageing and Society 34(3), pp. 538-540. (10.1017/S0144686X13000962)
2012
- Ylänne, V. ed. 2012. Representing ageing: Images and identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2010
- Williams, A. M.et al. 2010. Portrayals of older adults in UK magazine advertisements: Relevance of target audience. Communications. European Journal of Communication Research 35(1), pp. 1-27. (10.1515/comm.2010.001)
- Ylänne, V., Williams, A. M. and Wadleigh, P. M. 2010. Ageing well? Older people's health and well being as portrayed in UK magazine advertisements. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life 4(2), pp. 33-62. (10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.094233)
- Thurlow, C., Jaworski, A. and Ylänne, V. 2010. Transient identities, new mobilities: holiday postcards. In: Thurlow, C. and Jaworski, A. eds. Tourism Discourse: Language and Global Mobility. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 91-125.
- Thurlow, C., Jaworski, A. and Ylänne, V. 2010. Language crossing and identity play: Television holiday shows. In: Thurlow, C. and Jaworski, A. eds. Tourism Discourse: Language and Global Mobility. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 163-190.
- Williams, A. M., Wadleigh, P. M. and Ylänne, V. 2010. Images of older people in UK magazine advertising: Toward a typology. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 71(2), pp. 83-114. (10.2190/AG.71.2.a)
2009
- Williams, A. M. and Ylänne, V. 2009. Media representations of older people. Sociology Review 91(2), pp. 20-23.
- Ylänne, V. and Williams, A. M. 2009. Positioning age: Focus group discussions about older people in TV advertising. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 200, pp. 171-187. (10.1515/IJSL.2009.050)
2008
- Ylänne, V. and John, D. N. 2008. Roles of medicines counter assistants in advice giving in community pharmacies: a Discourse Analysis. Pharmacy World and Science 30(2), pp. 199-207. (10.1007/s11096-007-9165-4)
- Ylänne, V. 2008. Communication accommodation theory. In: Spencer-Oatey, H. ed. Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. London: Continuum, pp. 164-185.
2005
- Thurlow, C., Jaworski, A. and Ylänne, V. 2005. 'Half-hearted tokens of transparent love?' Ethnic postcards and the visual mediation of host-tourist communication. Tourism, Culture and Communication 5(2), pp. 93-104.
2004
- Ylänne, V. 2004. Shifting alignment and negotiating sociality in travel agency discourse. Discourse Studies 6(4), pp. 517-536. (10.1177/1461445604046592)
2003
- Jaworski, A.et al. 2003. Social roles and negotiation of status in host-tourist interaction: A view from British television holiday programmes. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7(2), pp. 135-164. (10.1111/1467-9481.00217)
- Ylänne, V.et al. 2003. The uses and representations of local languages in tourist destinations: A view from British TV holiday programmes. Language Awareness 12(1), pp. 5-29. (10.1080/09658410308667063)
I typically contribute to one of the Year 2 core modules, Discourse (SE1362), and convene the Year 2 module Language and Gender (SE1403). I also taught a Year 3 module Lifespan Communication (SE1327) for many years. At the MA level, I usually contribute to Qualitative Research Methods (SET012) and/or to Discourse and Social Interaction (SET005). In spring 2020 I will also be teaching Critical Approaches to Discourse (SET037).
Research interests
My research interests are in discourse and social interaction and discursive representations of age(ing) and lifespan identities.
My research has concentrated on media representations of older people and ageing; institutional discourse and discourses of tourist identities.
My recent research project has examined news coverage of older first time parents and personal narratives of parenting at middle age. I am also researching representations of ageing in the media, especially advertising, and aim to criticlly examine (visual) ageism. I am currently preparing an edited volume on Ageing and / in the Media from an international perspective.
I am also involved in a project and a recipient (with colleagues) of an ESRC Impact Initiator Award looking at hospital nurse handover sessions.
Postgraduate supervision
I currently supervise doctoral studies on mitigation and facework in Prime Minister's Question Time (Areej Dawood).
I am particularly interested in receiving PhD proposals from students interested in carrying out research on aspects of age identity and representations of ageing and middle/older age, using qualitative methodologies. I'm also interested in supervising projects on aspects of institutional talk in, for example, health care settings.
Past projects
In the past I have supervised PhD students on topics such as
- 'Functional semantic analysis of Yoruba death notices in English' (Dr Ayo Banji, 2003)
- 'Portraying older age in television advertisements: a comparative study between the UK and Taiwan' (Dr Chin-Hui Chen, 2011)
- 'Older workers' talk: Discursive representations of age, work and retirement identities' (Dr Sheila Gewolb, 2016)
- 'Representations of contemporary feminist protest in Germany and the UK’ (Dr Sophie Payne at Reading University, 2018); co-supervised with Dr Melani Schroeter, AHRC DTP funded
- 'A nexus analysis of domestic video chat: actions, practices, affordances, and mediational means' (Dr Dorottya Csenge Cserzö, 2019)