(Image credit: Australian Government, Study Australia) In her 2007 ethnographic study of eight US law schools, Elizabeth Mertz traces the process through which law students learn to “think like a…
Laura Smith-KhanApril 3, 2025
*** Anna Dillon and Sarah Hopkyns *** Figure 1: Sarah (in black) and Anna (in purple) at Abrahamic Family House As friends and fellow sociolinguists, we, Anna and Sarah, have…
Sarah HopkynsJanuary 17, 2025
(Image credit: Mana Akbarzadegan via Unsplash) When Muhammad* applied for admission to a postgraduate degree at an Australian university, he was asked to show evidence of his English language proficiency.…
Ingrid PillerJanuary 6, 2023
Prepositions are the unnoticed and underappreciated workhorses of language. They are "grammar words" that indicate relationships. Essentially, their job is to connect other words with bigger and more important meanings.…
Ingrid PillerDecember 12, 2022
Official coronation portrait (Image credit: Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2015) The Queen and the English language are both unique within their categories. The Queen enjoyed special…
Ingrid PillerSeptember 12, 2022
Editor’s note: The language challenges of the COVID-19 crisis have held much of our attention this year. Here on Language on the Move, we have been running a series devoted to language…
Monica NeveDecember 14, 2020
Celeste Rodriguez Louro and Glenys Collard, University of Western Australia *** The histories and everyday experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia are etched in the landscape,…
Language on the MoveSeptember 14, 2020
One of countless internet memes about crazy English spelling (Source: angmohdan.com) During a dreary German winter in the 1980s, I would get up early each Friday morning, wrap myself up…
Ingrid PillerAugust 10, 2020
Image 1: Infographic in Tagalog on ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection Editor’s note: Timely and equitable access to information for linguistically diverse populations continues to be a…
Loy LisingJuly 13, 2020
Yucky worms or yummy treats? When I arrived in the UK from Poland in 2004, I did not know that prawns even existed. During our first dubious encounter, I categorized…
Marta Wilczek-WatsonFebruary 6, 2019
New Zealand's PM wants to raise her newborn daughter bilingually (Source: radionz) New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, plans to raise her newborn daughter bilingually in Māori and English. Her…
Ingrid PillerSeptember 3, 2018
This story was authored by Antra Kalnins and first published at Macquarie University's The Lighthouse. It is reproduced here with permission. *** If the question in the headline makes you…
Language on the MoveAugust 4, 2018
Language choice in bilingual couples as habit (excerpt from Piller, 2002, p. 137) In my research with bilingual couples, habit emerged as one of the main reasons for a couple’s…
Ingrid PillerAugust 1, 2018
This week is Library and Information week (#LIW2018). Library and Information Week aims to raise the profile of libraries and information service professionals in Australia. What better way to celebrate…
Ingrid PillerMay 21, 2018
U.S. Vice President Pence ignores NASA "DO NOT TOUCH" sign. Would anyone else get away with such illiterate behavior? “Literacy” is one of those words that everyone uses as a…
Ingrid PillerAugust 7, 2017
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