Events

Professor Marianne Hundt - English Department, University of Zurich (https://www.es.uzh.ch/en/Subsites/Personal/mhundt.html) Abstract In English, lot is used in the complex quantifier a lot of (as in a lot of fun) and as a degree adverb (e.g. a lot more helpful, a lot better). Both constructions show variation in contact varieties of English, either in the way that elements from the construction are […]

Dr. Rudolph Glitz - Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam (https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/g/l/r.w.h.glitz/r.w.h.glitz.html) Abstract Shakespeare’s second history tetralogy has long been recognised as centring round Prince Hal’s legendary coming of age. In the two parts of Henry IV, after all, Shakespeare repeatedly stages the prince’s surprising reformation from dissolute youngster to resolute adult ruler of the realm. The […]

Professor Paul Crawford - School of Health Sciences, The University of Nottingham (https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/healthsciences/people/paul.crawford) Abstract In this talk, Professor Crawford will report on a key strand of his £1.5m Creative Practice as Mutual Recovery programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.  In addition to outlining this innovative programme of work and its mixed methodology, […]

Dr. Simon Alderson - Cygnet Communications Ltd (https://www.cygnet.com.hk/about.html) Abstract For a number of reasons, the English ballad and popular song have always stood in an uncomfortable relationship with traditional literary history. This is partly because ballads and songs have mostly lacked the features of single authorship, educated readership, and mainstream printing and publishing validation that […]

Dr. Miles Link - Department of English, Fudan University Abstract After Adam and Eve’s temptation in John Milton’s biblical epic Paradise Lost, the Earth is drastically altered to reflect humans’ fallen state. The planet is knocked off its axis, animals turn on one another, and the character of existence itself changes: from now on, life on […]

Professor Isobel Armstrong - Department of English and Humanities, Birkbeck, University of London (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-staff/emeritus-staff/isobel-armstrong) Abstract Generally dominated by the Aesthetic Movement and Decadent poets, mainly male, in critical discussion, I suggest that late nineteenth-century poetry was more varied and experimental than our customary frameworks suggest. I work with late-century Darwin to provide another model for […]

Professor Johan van der Auwera - Department of Linguistics, University of Antwerp (https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/johan-vanderauwera/my-website/) Abstract The talk reports on a typological study of negative indefinites, i.e., the counterparts to standard English nobody and nothing, in Englishes, primarily the New Englishes, and in English Creoles. Particular attention goes to "Negative Concord" ("NC"), i.e., the exponence of negation through both a […]