Staff Profile
Dr Mary Robinson
Lecturer in Linguistics
- Email: mary.robinson2@ncl.ac.uk
- Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/view/maryrobinson/home
Background
For the 2025-2026 year, I am the Combined Honours Subject Advisor for Linguistics.
I was awarded my Ph.D. in Linguistics from New York University in September 2022. Prior to my current appointment, I was Research Associate in Language Variation and Change in SELLL, working with the data collected as part of the Múin Béarla project.
Teaching
2025-2026
Semester 1
I am the Module Leader for Syntactic Theory (SEL2089).
I also teach on Current Issues in Linguistics (SEL3448).
My consultation hours are 12pm-1:30pm on Thursdays in Percy Building, room 1.11.
Semester 2
I am the Module Leader for Introduction to Language Structure 2: Syntax, semantics and pragmatics (SEL1028).
I also teach on Dealing with Data (SEL1032).
Research
I work at the interface of syntax and sociolinguistics, exploring practical issues of data collection and analysis, as well as theoretical issues about the location of variation in the grammar and modelling (morpho-)syntactic variation with the tools of generative syntax. I use corpus and experimental work to investigate morpho-syntactic variation and the social meaning associated with the use of different linguistic variants.
Publications
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Article
- Robinson M, Corrigan KP, Fisher J. 'It's the way I talk, y'knaa?': Accent, Dialect, Assumptions and Bias in Medical Education. The Clinical Teacher 2025, 22(3), e70084.
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Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
- Robinson M, Thoms G. Long distance negative concord in English. In: NELS 51: proceedings of the fifty-first annual meeting of the North East Linguistic Society. 2021, Universite du Quebec a Montreal: University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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Digital or Visual Media
- Smith J, Aitken B, Eunson B, Robinson M. Speak for Yersel. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2022.
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Working Papers
- Robinson M, Thoms G. On the Syntax of English Variable Negative Concord. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 2021, 27(1), 24.
- Robinson M, Duncan D. Holistic approaches to syntactic variation: Wh-all questions in English. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 2019, 25(1), 23.