I am a Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Salford. My research attempts to address the following question:

What is meaning in language and how does it differ from meaning we find elsewhere?

This question has taken me in several different directions.

Some of my research focusses on co-speech gestures, which are meaningful gestures that accompany language use. In addressing this question, I adopt a variety of experimental and observational methods. I am particularly interested in whether or not gestures are produced with the intention to communicate.

I am working with Prof Janet Watson on the gesture used by speakers of endangered Modern South Arabian Languages. This research explores the relationship between language, gesture, cognition and culture.

I am also a member of the Salford Institute for dementia and work on projects exploring the relationship between language and dementia. At the moment I am working with Six Degrees and Innovations in Dementia.

Other recent research projects have explored the relatinoship between gesture and body position, (rural) Sign Languages, the evolution of sign systems, metaphor in contemporary song lyrics.