University of Nottingham
Thesis title:
My project is the first sociolinguistic examination of the language use and translanguaging practices in emerging multi-ethnic urban vernaculars of young people in Austria. Austria’s capital city, Vienna, remains relatively under-researched in terms of its language(s), despite increasing linguistic diversity and migration trends akin to other European capitals (cf. the emergence of ‘Kiezdeutsch’ in Berlin, ‘Banlieue French’ in Paris, ‘Multicultural London English’ in London etc.). In light of the tendency in mainstream media to erroneously view adolescents as a homogenous group of speakers who all use the same vernacular (Drummond, 2018:14), my research focuses on linguistic variation among this current generation of young people, in particular, as they undergo critical social and language development while facing unprecedented, unsupervised and ubiquitous exposure to external and digital influences which may affect language use and attitudes – an area which has yet to be explored. My project addresses both of these gaps.
By yielding novel linguistic data through fieldwork and situating my outcomes in a wider Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH) (DACH) context, my project contributes to existing language contact scholarship and enhances both our theoretical understanding and public opinion of vernacular developments among the next generation(s) of multilingual speakers in Austria.
Eppler, E., Fahim, Z. and Kim, Y. (2024) 'Rethinking language qualifications in the UK university admission process: the case of native vs non-native speakers.' Languages, Society and Policy Journal. https://www.lspjournal.com/post/rethinking-language-qualifications-in-the-uk-university-admission-process-the-case-of-native-vs-non
Fahim, Z., Kim, Y., and Eppler, E. (2024) 'Diverse tongues, unheard voices: Barriers to mainstream uptake of heritage languages in England.' British Educational Research Association. https://clie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Fahim-Kim-Eppler.pdf
Fahim, Z. (2023) 'Choosing to Study Post-Compulsory Modern Foreign Languages in England: Motivations, Sociolinguistic Trends and the Context of BAME'. Journal of the Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain, 2(1), 8-63. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8184671
2023. '(Re-)Defining Residual V2 in Romance: a homogeneous phenomenon?', MPhil thesis, St. John's College, University of Cambridge (supervisor: Prof Adam Ledgeway)
2021. 'Motivational and Sociolinguistic Trends in Post-compulsory MFL uptake in England,' BA thesis, University of Birmingham (supervisor: Dr Alice Corr)
2024b. 'Heritage language qualifications in the UK HE admission process', LAGB Race and Social Justice Sub-committee, Online, 13 November (with Eva Eppler and Yuni Kim). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqxcrFCuRo&t=713s
2024a. 'Exploring the (in)accessibility of language qualifications (MFL and community) for students of underrepresented and minority groups', National Association of Language Advisers, University of Nottingham, 29 June.
2023b. 'Bridging the gap between community and modern foreign languages attitudes and uptake amongst underrepresented students in schools: Linguistics as a tool for change', Committee for Linguistics in Education, Linguistics Association for Great Britain (LAGB) and British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL), Online, 13 October.
2023a. 'Testing and (Re-)Defining Residual V2 in Italian: A Homogeneous Phenomenon?', SyntaxLab, Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, 23 May.
2024. 'Theoretical and sociolinguistics at the interface: Revisiting language contact intensity and morphosyntactic change through Ibero-Daco Romance', Romance grammars, context and contact (RGCC24), University of Birmingham, 8-10 January.
2023. 'Bridging the gap between community and modern foreign languages attitudes and uptake amongst underrepresented students in schools: Linguistics as a tool for change', Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB23), Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge), 30 August.
2024. Research Assistant in Linguistics, University of Cambridge (PI: Dr Anna Tristram)
2021-2022; 2020. British Council English Teaching Assistant, Vienna (Austria)
2020-2021. Outgoing Global Ambassador (Research), Study Abroad and Exchanges Department, University of Birmingham
2024. AHRC Midlands4Cities PhD Studentship (fully-funded), University of Nottingham.
2023b. AHRC Midlands4Cities PhD Studentship (fully-funded), University of Birmingham. [scholarship awarded, later declined]
2023a. AHRC Open-Oxford-Cambridge PhD Studentship (fully-funded), St John's College, University of Cambridge. [scholarship awarded, later declined]
2019. Outstanding student representative award, Guild of Students, University of Birmingham.
2017-2021. Senior Student Representative, Department of Modern Languages, University of Birmingham.
2017-2021. Student Ambassador, College of Arts and Law, University of Birmingham.
2020-2021. Outgoing Global Ambassador, Study Abroad and Exchanges Department, University of Birmingham.
2018-2019. President of Modern Languages Society, University of Birmingham.
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