Jennifer Smith

Jennifer Smith, PhD, FRSE is a sociolinguistic specialist in language variation and dialects, especially Scottish dialects across the generations and geography of Scotland, including developing the Scottish syntax atlas which analyses the diversity. Her research also covers variations in colonial English, for example, in North America. Professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Glasgow School of Critical Studies, she teaches and researches language and variation theory. Biography Originally from Buckie, and speaking in that dialect, Smith taught English in Athens before studying for her MA in Linguistics at Durham University. Her doctorate was completed at the University of York (2000) on Synchrony and Diachrony of English: Evidence from Scotland. She was a lecturer at York before becoming professor of linguistics at the University of Glasgow, School of Critical Studies. In 2009 she took time off for health reasons, recovering from ovarian cancer and married her long term partner. In addition to her own teaching and research interests, Smith is the research convenor of English Language and Linguistics at Glasgow, and is an external examiner for the University of Sheffield, Queen Mary, University of London, Lancaster University and the Open University. She is a PhD examiner for Newcastle University, Trinity College Dublin (2014) and the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. She is also a member of the ESRC Virtual College and Assessor for the Natural Science Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Publications and editorships Smith is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Linguistics and is a reviewer for articles for that journal and for Language Variation & Change, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Journal of Child Language. She also is a monograph reviewer for academic publishers Mouton, CUP and OUP. Smith was co-editor in 2017 of Studies in Middle and Modern English: Historical Variation. Series: Studies in the history of the English language, and also previously (in 2014) of Studies in Middle and Modern English: Historical Change. Series: Studies in the history of the English language.