Variationist linguistics and phonological theory
Much of my research deals with the variability inherent in language. I am particularly interested in how language-internal factors influence sound change and what this tells us about how variation is represented in speakers' grammars. Alongside my doctoral research into northern English velar nasals, I am involved in a project investigating diachronic and synchronic frequency effects in Manchester /t/-glottalling, conducted alongside Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero, Maciej Baranowski and Danielle Turton, which engages with important issues of phonological representation.