Languages and Literature, University of Nottingham
Thesis title:
My research is interested in the pre-Old English runic corpus, which is a corpus defined as runic inscriptions with find-spots in Britain which are dated before c.650CE, and has been labelled a Trümmersprache, a ‘remains language’ (written fragmentary data).
My over-arching research question is, ‘what are the functions of the pre-Old English runic inscriptions?’. By asking this question, I am planning to tackle the theoretical problem of what we mean by the ‘functions’ of a text. Do we mean communicative functions, and what does that entail? Can texts with no discernable lexical item be communicative, and if so, how? How do we determine non-communicative functions of runic script, and what would they be?
My methodology will use approaches from runology, historical pragmatics (especially pragmaphilology), and archeology and material culture studies. I hope to research how to adapt historical pragmatics to Trümmersprache data and the methodological issues of applying certain areas of linguistics to fragmentary data.
Higgs, Jasmin (2017). 'Examine the value of place names as evidence for the history, landscape and,especially, language(s) of your chosen area: North Essex'. Innervate: Leading Undergraduate Work in English Studies.
'Functions of the pre-Old English Runic Inscriptions', Medieval Research Centre seminars, University of Leicester, 16th February 2021
Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland.
Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland.
Qualifications.
2015-2018 BA (Hons) English, University of Nottingham - 1st Class
2018-2019 MA Viking & Anglo-Saxon Studies, University of Nottingham - Distinction
2018 TQUK Level 5 Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (RQF), The TEFL Academy - Merit.
Ongoing.
The Virtual Linguistics Campus
VLC101- Linguistic Fundamentals.
VLC202- Historical Linguistics.
VLC203- History of English