Christiana Themistocleous
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+44 (0) 118 378 7457
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Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics
- BA Dissertation Coordinator
- Departmental Study Abroad Coordinator
Areas of interest
Christiana's main interests fall within the area of sociolinguistics and multilingualism.
Her current research explores multilingualism in borderline communities affected by conflict. Focusing on the case of Cyprus, and in particular the Greek-Cypriot/Turkish-Cypriot divide, Christiana investigates how public spaces are socially constructed through the use of multilingual public signs. Using the Linguistic Landscape approach, she investigates identities and ideologies that relate to conflict, migration, displacement, tolerance and social cohesion. Also, using ethnographic approaches, she explores how social actors experience and perceive multilingual spaces.
In her previous work, Christiana studied the representation of multilingualism in the media, as well as social functions of code-switching, focusing on identity construction.
Postgraduate supervision
Christiana currently supervises/co-supervises five PhD students. She is happy to supervise PhD students interested in any aspect of sociolinguistics, multilingualism and language and media.Teaching
Christiana teaches the following modules:
Undergraduate:
LS1ELS English Language in Society
LS2SLG Sociolinguistics
LS2LAG: Language and Gender
LS3DI: Dissertation
Research centres and groups
- Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism
- BAAL Multilingualism SIG
Research projects
Christiana’s most recent projects include:
- Experiencing multilingual spaces in borderline communities affected by conflict: The case of Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots in Cyprus (British Academy/Leverhulme) (Primary Investigator)
- Multilingualism and identity in Cyprus: Alternating and hybrid identity styles (Council for British Research in the Levant) (Co-Investigator)
Background
Before joining the University of Reading in 2010, Christiana worked for one year as a Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Manchester. Previously she worked as an English Language Teaching Assistant in Seville, Spain.
Read Christiana's research story
Outside of the University, Christiana is also:
- External Examiner: BA English Language and Linguistics, University of Roehampton.
Academic qualifications
- PhD Linguistics (University of Manchester)
- MA Linguistics (University of Manchester)
- BA (Hons) English Language and French (Anglia Ruskin University)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Publications
- Jones, R. and Themistocleous, C. (2022) Introducing Language and Society. Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistics Cambridge University Press , Cambridge. pp 250. ISBN: 9781108689922 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108689922
- Themistocleous, C. (2021) From public to digital spaces: spatial and media practices of the 2017 ‘Unite Cyprus Now’ peace protests. Discourse, Context and Media , 42 ISSN: 2211-6958 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2021.100504
- Themistocleous, C. (2020) Multilingual voices of unification in ‘No man’s land’: evidence from the linguistic landscape of Nicosia’s UN-controlled buffer zone. Linguistic Landscape , 6 (2). pp. 155-182. ISSN: 2214-9961 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ll.19030.the
- Themistocleous, C. (2019) Conflict and unification in the multilingual landscape of a divided city: the case of Nicosia's border. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 40 (2). pp. 94-114. ISSN: 1747-7557 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2018.1467425
- Jaworska, S. and Themistocleous, C. (2018) Public discourses on multilingualism in the UK: triangulating a corpus study with a sociolinguistic attitude survey. Language in Society , 47 (1). pp. 57-88. ISSN: 0047-4045 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404517000744
- Themistocleous, C. (2015) Digital code-switching between Cypriot and Standard Greek: performance and identity play online. International Journal of Bilingualism , 19 (3). pp. 282-297. ISSN: 1756-6878 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367006913512727
- Sophocleous, A. and Themistocleous, C. (2014) Projecting social and discursive identities through code-switching on facebook: the case of Greek Cypriots. Language@Internet , 11 ISSN: 1860-2029
- Themistocleous, C. (2010) Linguistic innovations in IRC: Cypriot-Greek phonological features. In: Jorgensen, J. , (eds.) Vallah, Gurkensalat 4U & me! Current perspectives in the study of youth language.. Peter Lang , Frankfurt am Main. pp. 113-129. ISBN: 9783631601433
- Themistocleous, C. (2010) Online orthographies. In: Taiwo, R. , (eds.) Handbook of Research on Discourse Behaviour and Digital Communication: Language Structures and Social Interaction. IGI Global , Hershey, Pennsylvania. pp. 318-334. ISBN: 9781615207732
- Themistocleous, C. (2010) Writing in a non-standard Greek variety: Romanized Cypriot Greek in online chat. Writing Systems Research , 2 (2). pp. 155-168. ISSN: 1758-6801 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/wsr/wsq008
- Themistocleous, C. (2009) Written Cypriot Greek in online chat: Usage and attitudes. pp. 473-488.