Dr Gareth Walker
School of English
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
+44 114 222 0238
Full contact details
School of English
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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I did my studying at the University of York with a BA in English Literature and Linguistics (2000), followed by an MA in Linguistics by Research (2001), and a PhD in Linguistics (2004). I joined the School of English as Lecturer in Linguistics in 2006, becoming Senior Lecturer in 2013.
- Research interests
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All of my research to date has been directed at trying to reach a more complete understanding of how we use linguistic resources when we engage in everyday conversation. My research combines Conversation Analysis (CA) with techniques of auditory and acoustic phonetics.
I have published work on topics including turn-taking (including turn-holding and turn-continuation, turn-projection, talk-projection), laughter, interactions involving young children, simultaneous talk, communication impairment, the coordination of vocal and visible resources (gaze, posture, gesture), stance and effect, repetition, the speech of people with epilepsy and non-epileptic seizures, and people with mild cognitive impairment.
I am currently involved in research into the speech of people with dementia.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Characterising spoken responses to an intelligent virtual agent by persons with mild cognitive impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. View this article in WRRO
- On the potential of phonetic analysis to distinguish between people with epilepsy and non-epileptic seizures. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 92-109. View this article in WRRO
- Close proximity of turn-continuation to possible turn-completion in conversation. Speech Communication, 99, 231-241. View this article in WRRO
- Visual Representations of Acoustic Data: A Survey and Suggestions. Research on Language & Social Interaction, 50(4), 363-387. View this article in WRRO
- Pitch and the Projection of More Talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 50(2), 206-225. View this article in WRRO
- Young children’s use of laughter as a means of responding to questions. Journal of Pragmatics, 112, 20-32. View this article in WRRO
- Phonetic Variation and Interactional Contingencies in Simultaneous Responses. Discourse Processes, 53(4), 298-324. View this article in WRRO
- Young Children's Use of Laughter After Transgressions. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 46(4), 363-382. View this article in WRRO
- Editorial. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 27(10-11), 735.
- View this article in WRRO On the intersection of phonetic detail and the organisation of interaction: clinical connections. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 27.
- Coordination and Interpretation of Vocal and Visible Resources: 'Trail-off' Conjunctions. Language and Speech, 55(1), 141-163. View this article in WRRO
- How phonetic features project more talk. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42, 255-280-255-280. View this article in WRRO
- Stance and affect in conversation: on the interplay of sequential and phonetic resources. Text & Talk, 28(6), 723-747. View this article in WRRO
- On the design and use of pivots in everyday English conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 39(12), 2217-2243. View this article in WRRO
- Repetition and the prosody-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(10), 1721-1751. View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO `Mind the gap': further resources in the production of multi-unit, multi-action turns.. York Papers in Linguistics Series 2(3), 133-143.
- Methodological imperatives for investigating the phonetic organisation and phonological structures of spontaneous speech. Phonetica: international journal of phonetic science, 62(2-4), 120-130. View this article in WRRO
- Abrupt-joins as a resource for the production of multi-unit, multi-action turns. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(8), 1375-1403. View this article in WRRO
- Speech patterns in responses to questions asked by an intelligent virtual agent can help to distinguish between people with early stage neurodegenerative disorders and healthy controls. Journal of Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics.
- Features of answers to questions about recent events by people with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's disease, and healthy controls. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders.
Chapters
- View this article in WRRO Phonetics and prosody in conversation In Sidnell J & Stivers T (Ed.), Handbook of Conversation Analysis Wiley-Blackwell
- View this article in WRRO Phonetics and the management of talk-in-interaction In Andersen G & Aijmer K (Ed.), Pragmatics of Society (pp. 153-180). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
- 6. Phonetics and the management of talk-in-interaction, Pragmatics of Society DE GRUYTER
- The phonetic constitution of a turn-holding practice, Prosody in Interaction (pp. 51-72). John Benjamins Publishing Company
- View this article in WRRO The phonetic constitution of a turn-holding practice: rush-throughs in English talk-in-interaction In Barth-Weingarten D, Reber E & Selting M (Ed.), Prosody in Interaction (pp. 51-72). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- View this article in WRRO On Some Interactional and Phonetic Properties of Increments to Turns in Talk-in-Interaction In Couper-Kuhlen E & Ford CE (Ed.), Sound patterns in interaction (pp. 147-169). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Conference proceedings papers
- Research group
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I am interested in supervising PhD students conducting research into everyday talk, especially if that work involves (or might involve) phonetics and/or conversation analysis. I am especially interested in supervising PhD students in any of the areas in which I have published research: see "Publications".
- Teaching activities
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My main teaching responsibilities are in phonetics and conversation analysis. This means convening and teaching the following courses:
ELL12 Sounds of English
ELL207 Phonetics
ELL354 Advanced Phonetics
EGH304 Conversation Analysis
I contribute to courses in sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics and research methods at undergraduate and MA level, and supervise undergraduate and MA dissertations.