Postgraduate Profile
Ellen Smith
PhD Candidate, School of Humanities & Social Science
Discipline: Linguistics
Faculty/Division: Education and Arts
Campus: Callaghan, Newcastle
Location: McMullin Building, Room MC117
Email: e.l.smith@uon.edu.au
Current Research
PhD Thesis Title: Documenting Papapana: a highly endangered Northwest Solomonic language
Supervisors: Dr. Bill Palmer (Principal) & Dr. Catriona Malau
Abstract:
My project will document Papapana, one of the most highly endangered languages of the Northwest Solomonic region. Papapana is an Oceanic language; North-West Solomonic group. It is spoken on the east coast of Bougainville island in Papua New Guinea and has approximately 120 speakers. Despite small speaker numbers and pressure to shift to other languages, documentation is feasible, though urgent, and members of the community are enthusiastic to actively collaborate on documenting their languages and traditions. Project outcomes will consist of sets of materials tailored for archiving, for community use, and to support future scientific research.
The project is part of the larger project 'Documenting Ririo and Papapana; the two most highly endangered Northwest Solomonic languages' funded by Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project grant MDP0206.
Qualifications
- 2010 PhD Candidate (Linguistics), University of Newcastle, Australia
- 2008 M.A. in Languages and Linguistics (Distinction), The University of Manchester, U.K.
Thesis Title: Syntactic development in the interlanguage systems of children and adolescents acquiring English as a second language: an analysis of individual variation. - 2007 B.A. (Hons) in English and Linguistics (1st class), The University of Manchester, U.K.
Dissertation Title: To what extent is the speech of a bilingual child affected by their having acquired two languages simultaneously? Available here
Awards
- 2007 AHRC [Arts and Humanities Research Council] Research Preparation Master's Scheme Award
Languages Spoken
- English, Portuguese, French, Indonesian
Professional Background
2009-2010 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, KELT, Surabaya, Indonesia
2009 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Kingsway Centre, Worcester, U.K.
2009 Teacher Manager, International Quest, Worcester, U.K.
2008-2009 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Fun Languages, Viseu, Portugal
2007-2008 Research Assistant to Dr. Thea Cameron-Faulkner, The University of Manchester, U.K.
2007 Director of Studies, Project International, Liverpool, U.K
2006 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Project International, Sherborne, U.K.
2005 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, International Quest, Worcester, U.K.
2004 English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Cultura Inglesa, Olinda, Brazil
2003 Special Needs Support Assistant, Worcester Sixth Form College, U.K.
Research Interests
Bilingualism, first and second language acquisition, diglossia, language shift, language death, contact languages, contact-induced linguistic change, cross-cultural pragmatics, aphasia.
