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Formal name: Dr Verna Robertson Rieschild Position: Lecturer Personal Title: Dr Qualifications: 1980 BA(Hons) MA (thesis only) 1982 PhD 1997Australian National University, Canberra ACT Australia Telephone: +61 2 9850 9922 Fax: +61 2 9850 9199 Email: Verna.Rieschild@ling.mq.edu.au Location: C5A 528 Web Pages: Selected Publications

Profile

I am a sociolinguist working on two aspects of Arabic and language change: (1) language choice and identity issues relevant to Australians of Arabic descent, and (2) language variation and language change in medieval Arabic texts. I am also involved in community and forensic linguistic activities relevant to effective and inclusive communication in a pluralistic Australia.

Research
I am currently involved in two research projects. “The voices of Australian youths of Arabic descent” investigates the linguistic and social dimensions associated with being bilingual and being a member of a high profile community group in Australia; exploring how this impacts on people’s language use, attitudes to languages and accents, and on the ambient languages themselves. It aims to explain the complex links between language choice and identity in a pluralistic society. The other ongoing project explores language variation and language change in medieval Arabic texts, with a special interest in language contact and collaborative translations in medieval al-Andalus and Sicily.

Convenes
Undergraduate
LING216 Introduction to Sociolinguistics
LING312 Bilingualism
LING321 Anthropological Linguistics

Postgraduate
LING903 Language and Culture
LING908 Language Policy and Planning
Contributes lectures to
LING 110 Introduction to Linguistics
LING248 Language and New Media
LING905 Research Methods

Supervises
Honours and Postgraduate Research students in the areas of sociolinguistics (particularly Arabic sociolinguistics, but I have also supervised students researching Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Ga, and Bahasa Indonesia); language change; and language, identity, and multiculturalism