Survey of English Usage,
University College London
Tel: +44 20 7679 8205

My research focuses on the impact of language on experiences and perceptions of reproductive healthcare, and I am particularly interested in the role of language in experiences of, and attitudes towards, pregnancy endings, including pregnancy loss and termination of pregnancy. I work with clinicians, academics from other disciplines, and third-sector organisations to better understand the roles language plays in experiences of pregnancy endings and public understanding of such experiences.
My main areas of research interest are:
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Impacts of diagnostic terminology and health discourses in experiences of reproductive and sexual healthcare
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Impacts of healthcare terminology and discourses on social attitudes to reproductive and sexual health and access to care
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Language and gender more generally
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Linguistic prescriptivism and normativity
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Language rules​ and ideologies
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Language variation and change
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Over the years, my methodological interests have evolved significantly. I'm a corpus linguist by background and my PhD and early publications involved computational modelling in Python to explore effects of prescriptive interventions. My interest in the experiences of women and birthing people during pregnancy has led me to diversify my methodological repertoire, and I have undertaken training in qualitative approaches including ethnography, focus groups, and interviewing, and have used these in my research. I continue to use corpora for both quantitative and qualitative research. ​
I am a member of a very strong research unit, the Survey of English Usage, which has a history of pioneering linguistic research. I am passionate about multidisciplinary collaboration and have strong links with other units within UCL, and particularly with the Institute for Global Health.
I also work closely with charities outside of academia, including Tommy’s, Sands, Petals, and The Miscarriage Association.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). My current teaching responsibilities include supervising of PhD and MA students and having one-to-one tutorials with undergraduate and postgraduate students. I convene the 'English in Use' module on the MA in English Linguistics and 'Modern English Language' at undergraduate level. At undergraduate level, I teach across the entire history of the English language, from Old and Middle English to applied linguistic research in contemporary contexts.
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If you are interested in studying at UCL, please see my Contact page for information on applying and my areas of interest for doctoral supervision.
Find out more about my research around pregnancy loss language by visiting the Survey of English usage website. You can also explore my publications or visit my profile on the University College London website.
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About me
Selected Publications
'The Transition from abortion to miscarriage', 2022
This paper, published in BMJ Medical Humanities, uses computational linguistics to show a causal link between the prescriptive linguistic intervention of a group of eminent obstetricians and a change in clinical language. The obstetricians argued that use of the phrase 'spontaneous abortion' was harmful to those experiencing recurrent pregnancy loss, and urged clinicians to use 'miscarriage' instead. Amazingly, this prompted a complete overhaul in British clinical usage.
'Polarized discourses of abortion' in English', 2023
This paper, published in Applied Linguistics, uses Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies to consider how the word 'abortion' is used on the internet, and whether it can really be used neutrally in phrases such as 'anti-abortion'. Whilst such phrases are often offered as more neutral alternatives in journalistic style guides, this systematic examination indicates that 'abortion' might carry too many negative connotations to be used neutrally in contemporary English.