Dr Heike Pichler

Office

Room 174 HumSS Building, Tel. 0118 3786092 (internal 6092)

E-mail

h.s.pichler@reading.ac.uk

Qualifications

Mag. phil. English and French Linguistics and Literatures (Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Austria); PG Diploma 'Teaching German as a Foreign Language' (Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Austria); PhD English Sociolinguistics (Aberdeen).

University responsibilities

Heike joined the University of Reading in September 2009 as a Lecturer. She is Part 3 Co-ordinator for the BA in English Language programme and BA Examinations Officer.

Teaching experience

Heike has taught at tertiary level since 2000. She has previously held positions at the Universities of Graz, Austria, and the University of Aberdeen, UK.

Heike currently teaches/contributes to the following modules on the BA in English Language programme:

• LS1SGM: Sounds, Grammar and Meaning
• LS1ELS: English Language and Society
• LS2/3IDC: Intercultural Discourse and Communication
• LS2ILS: Issues in Language and Society
• LS2SX: From Saxons to Shakespeare
• LS2RM: Research Methods

Heike also contributes to the teaching of the MA in Applied Linguistics (MAAL) and MA in English Language Teaching (MA ELT) (campus-based and distance study modes):

• LSMDA: Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers
• LSMIC: Intercultural Communication
• LSDMIC: English in Context

Heike also contributes to the Doctoral Training Programme (PhDTP, LSMIR).

Research interests

Heike's research is in variationist sociolinguistics. She studies how language use varies across social groups and space, and how it gradually changes over time. Her main focus is on discourse features: when expressions such as 'I dunno' or 'like' are used to signal speaker attitudes and structure discourse rather than convey referential meaning by communicating content. She examines how these features develop, who uses them, how, where, and when.

Her recent and current projects include:

Formal variation in discourse: Previous variationist accounts of discourse-pragmatic features such as you know, like, I mean have examined the correlation of their relative frequencies and strategic uses with social variables, notably socio-economic class, gender and age. Few scholars have investigated variation in the formal encoding of discourse features. This project combines quantitative methods from variationist sociolinguistics and qualitative methods from discourse analysis to explore the functional and social meanings of the formal variants of the expressions I DON'T KNOW and I DON'T THINK. The analysis reveals that the occurrence of non-localized variants, i.e., variants with a wide geographical distribution, and localized variants, i.e., variants whose distribution is associated with a given locality, is conditioned by different parameters: non-localized variants show function-specific patterning; localized variants evince orderly social heterogeneity. The results demonstrate that social variation in discourse extends beyond differential frequencies and strategic uses of discourse features to their formal encoding, and that function plays an important role in accounting for patterns of formal variation in discourse.

Methods in discourse variation analysis: Quantitative studies of phonological and lower-level morpho-syntactic variation and change have been relatively homogeneous and congruent in focus and methodology. The resultant comparability of studies has allowed scholars to formulate general principles of phonological and morpho-syntactic variation and change. No such generalizations have been made for discourse variation and change; cross-corpora comparisons in discourse are hampered by the current heterogeneity in corpus construction, data quantification, theorizing of discourse variables, and optional inclusion of qualitative methods. In order to develop a theory of discourse variation, some methodological consistency is required. In a forthcoming paper, Heike expounds and advocate a uniform methodology for discourse variation analysis which accommodates the complex nature of discourse variation and change, and at the same time ensures that results from individual studies are comparable.

Synergistic potential of variationist theory and grammaticalization theory in accounting for synchronic variation in discourse (with Stephen Levey): Attempts to synergise variationist theory and grammaticalization theory have been successful in illuminating the grammaticalization of morpho-syntactic features. In our work on general extenders (e.g. or something, and stuff like that), we demonstrate the potential benefits of extending this approach to analyses of discourse features. Our quantitative analysis of key diagnostics of grammaticalization (syntagmatic length, decategorialization, semantic-pragmatic change) and our inclusion in the analysis of social factors reveal (i) that different changes associated with grammaticalization do not operate in lockstep; (ii) that different general extender variants are differently positioned on the cline of grammaticalization; and (iii) that different processes associated with grammaticalization are spearheaded by different social groups.

Variability in discourse collocations (with Stephen Levey): Previous research on discourse-pragmatic features has noted their increased susceptibility to variation and change and their frequent co-occurrence and clustering with other features of the same word class. In this project, we demonstrate the high degree of variability in these collocational patterns in apparent-time, and explore the potential causes for this variability. More details to follow.

Diffusion of discourse features across social groups, space and syntactic contexts (with Eivind Torgersen): The tag form innit has been described as a discourse form which is rapidly innovating and spreading by regional diffusion from southern England. Our investigation into the social, syntactic-semantic and functional distribution of innit in synchronic corpora from the multi-ethnic context of London, south-east England, and the mono-ethnic town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, north-east England, leads us to challenge the view that the cross-dialectal occurrence of innit per se is not a result of diffusion. More details to follow.

If you would like a copy of any of Heike's papers, please feel free to contact her.

Heike is also the co-ordinator of the Sociolinguistics and Discourse Research Group and Co-convenor of the Cross-Disciplinary Gender Research Network.

Membership of Professional Bodies

Heike is a member of the British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE), the Linguistics Association of Great Britian (LAGB), and the Variational Pragmatics network.

Publications

(1) Peer-reviewed journal articles and working papers

• Pichler, Heike & Stephen Levey (under review). Variationist theory meets grammaticalization theory: General extenders in north-east England and that.
• Pichler, Heike (accepted, subject to revisions). Methods in discourse variation analysis: Reflections on the way forward.
• Pichler, Heike (2009). The functional and social reality of discourse variants in a northern English dialect: I DON'T KNOW and I DON'T THINK compared. Intercultural Pragmatics 6(4): 561-596.
• Pichler, Heike (2007). Form-function relations in discourse: The case of I DON'T KNOW. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics 13: 174-187.

(2) Book reviews

• Pichler, Heike (in press). Laurel J. Brinton. 2008. The comment clause in English. Syntactic origins and pragmatic development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Journal of Pragmatics.

Presentations

Invited panel and colloquium contributions

• 'A socio-pragmatic study of discourse features in a northern English dialect'. Panel on 'Pragmatic variation: The interplay of micro-social and macro-social factors', Sociolinguistics Symposium 17, University of Amsterdam, NL, April 2008.
• 'Relating metalinguistic commentary to production patterns in Berwick-upon-Tweed'. Panel on 'Top-down or bottom-up?: Understanding the interaction between language, identity and ideology', Sociolinguistics Symposium 16, University of Limerick, Ireland, July 2006 (with Carmen Llamas & Dominic Watt).

Other presentations (since 2006)

• 'I mean, just like the words we combine and that': Variability in discourse collocations. ICAME 31, University of Giessen, Germany, May 2010 (with Stephen Levey).
• 'Semantics, pragmatics, syntax: A synchronic view on the diachronic development of the discourse formula I DON'T KNOW'. Colloquium on 'Meaning in diachrony', i-mean, University of the West of England, UK, April 2009.
• 'It's (not) diffusing, innit? The origins of innit in British English'. New Ways of Analysing Variation 38, University of Ottawa, Canada, October 2009 (with Eivind Torgersen).
• '"You hear it on the telly and that": Tracking grammaticalization across the generations'. New Ways of Analysing Variation 38, University of Ottawa, Canada, October 2009 (with Stephen Levey).
• 'The sociolinguistic and functional distribution of innit in Berwick and London'. UK Language Variation and Change Conference 7, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, September 2009 (with Eivind Torgersen).
• 'Looking back - moving forward: Corpus-based studies of discourse variation'. ICAME 30, University of Lancaster, UK, May 2009.
• 'General extenders in northeast England and that'. i-mean, University of the West of England, UK, April 2009 (with Stephen Levey).
• '"Divn't say dinnae" or "Dinnae say divn't"?: A qualitative-quantitative approach to verbal negation in the far north of England'. New Ways of Analysing Variation 36, University of Pennsylvania, USA, October 2007.
• 'Variation and change in the negation system of a British English dialect'. UK Language Variation and Change Conference 6, University of Lancaster, UK, September 2007.
• '"I divn't knaa what it is": Form-function relations in discourse'. Northern Englishes Workshop 2, University of Edinburgh, UK, March 2007.
• 'Variation in the use of discourse marker I DON'T KNOW in a British border community'. Sociolinguistics Symposium 16, University of Limerick, Ireland, July 2006.