Dominic Watt
MA (Edin), PhD (Newcastle)

I am leaving Aberdeen in October 2007 to take up a lectureship in forensic speech science in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York. Click here to find out more about the new MSc in Forensic Speech Science that runs for the first time in the 2007-8 session.

teaching and administrative duties

Since September 2002 I have been lecturer in linguistics in the School of Language & Literature. I teach the following undergraduate courses:

• EL43NU Forensic Phonetics
• EL43NT  Phonological Variation and Change
• EL30NW  Visible Speech: an Introduction to Instrumental Phonetic
• EL2802  Sounds of English
• EL1509  Essentials of Language
• EL35LQ  Language: Variation and Change

I am also a member of the teaching team on the postgraduate programmes MLitt in English Sociolinguistics (discontinued 2007) and the MLitt in English Linguistics for Advanced Teachers of English (ELATE).

My administrative roles are as follows:

• Director, Phonetics Laboratory
• School Computing and IT Officer

I was Undergraduate Programme Coordinator for Language & Linguistics in 2005-6. I am currently external examiner for University College London's MA in Phonetics, and one of two external examiners for Linguistics in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

research interests

My research interests are in the areas of phonological variation and change, forensic phonetics, phonological acquisition, vowel production and perception, and the interface between language and social and national identity. I would welcome applications from students interested in applying for PhD study in any of these areas.

current PhD students

Zhang Xinfeng
An Acoustic Study of English Speech Rhythm by Chinese Learners

Jillian Yurkova
A Perceptual Investigation of Phonological Variation in urban Aberdeen English

Nina Nellemann Rasmussen
Title TBC

Click here to see a list of my publications.

previous teaching and research posts

• 2000-2002: Lecturer in phonetics and phonology, Department of Language & Linguistic Science, University of York
• 1998-2000: Research fellow, Department of Linguistics & Phonetics, University of Leeds, on The Emergence of Structured Variation in the Speech of Tyneside Infants project, ESRC R0002374417; principal investigators Gerry Docherty, Barbara Dodd (Newcastle), Paul Foulkes (York), Lesley Milroy (Michigan).
• 1994-1998: PhD student, Speech & Language Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Supervisor: Prof. Gerry Docherty. Thesis title: Variation and change in the vowel system of Tyneside English. Supported by ESRC studentship 00429524350.
• 1993-1994: Part-time lecturer/tutor in phonetics, Department of Theoretical & Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
• 1993-1994: Visiting lecturer in phonetics, Department of Drama, Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh
• 1992-1993: Lektor, Englisches Seminar, Universität Flensburg, Germany

I have held other temporary teaching posts at Leeds Metropolitan University, the University of Durham, and University College London. Between 1987 and 1992 I took an MA in linguistics in Edinburgh's Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, one semester of which was spent at the University of Helsinki on the ERASMUS exchange programme. As well as classes in linguistics I took courses in Arabic, Japanese, Finnish, Cognitive Psychology, and English Language, and worked part-time in Edinburgh's  Department of Sociology and the Research Centre for Social Sciences for various projects on technology and society, including assisting in the preparation of Donald Mackenzie's award-winning Mechanizing Proof, MIT Press, 2001.

professional affiliations

I am a member of the following organisations:

• International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics
• International Phonetic Association
• British Association of Academic Phoneticians
• Northern Consortium for Postgraduate Training in Linguistics

contact details

Centre for Linguistic Research

School of Language & Literature

University of Aberdeen

Taylor Building (A50)

King's College

Aberdeen AB24 3UB

Scotland

Tel: 01224 272634

Fax: 01224 272624

e-mail