The New Speakers Blog

Bernie O’Rourke is Professor in Spanish and Linguistics at Heriot-Watt University. Her research focuses on the role of language in the construction of social difference and social inequality. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and concepts in sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, she examines these processes as they unfold in minority language contexts with a particular focus on the Irish and Galician cases. She is Chair of the COST Action New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Opportunities and Challenges.

Dr Cassie Smith Christmas is a Research Fellow for Soillse, the Gaelic sociolinguistic research network based at UHI, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow.

Jonathan Kasstan is a Teaching Fellow in Sociolinguistics at Queen Mary, University of London. 

Anik Nandi (India) is a final year PhD student at the Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies (LINCS) of Heriot-Watt University (UK). He is also external research fellow at the Instituto da Lingua Galega (Spain) and in the UNESCO Chair on World Language Heritage at University of Basque Country (Spain). His research centres on Language Policy and Planning, language revitalisation strategies, minority issues, and Galician studies.