PhilSoc Meetings

PhilSoc usually holds seven meetings each academic year, in October, November, January, February, March, May and June (AGM). At most meetings, a full paper is read; other meetings take the format of a thematic symposium. Significant announcements made at meetings are reported on the homepage of the Society's website.



Unless otherwise indicated, tea is served at 3.45pm and the meeting begins at 4.15pm.

The Society has a YouTube channel where video recordings of some of its past meetings may be found.




PhilSoc welcomes proposals for papers to be read at meetings. Proposals should be forwarded to the Honorary Secretary (contact details on the Contact page). Papers may be on any topic falling within the scope of PhilSoc's interests, but speakers are asked to bear in mind that the audience will represent a wide range of linguistic interests, and papers should therefore be accessible to non-specialists.

May
10
2024

May 2024

What social media can tell us about dialect variation and change
David Willis (Oxford), chaired by Nigel Vincent

Organised in association with the British Academy, this year's Anna Morpurgo Davies lecture will be held at the Royal Society and broadcast online.

Registration is required for both in-person and online attendance; please register using this link.

Like all ordinary meetings of the Society, the lecture will commence at 4:15pm. Instead of the usual tea before, this lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

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This talk will looks as some of the challenges and discoveries associated with using social media (Twitter/X) as a source for examining dialect variation and change. Messages from social media constitute a fantastic source of evidence for linguistic diversity, much of which is otherwise inaccessible, allowing us to see patterns of linguistic variation across thousands, sometimes even millions, of people. We will look at some of the results of the Tweetolectology project, which has been mapping linguistic variation across various countries, with case studies from Welsh, English and Haitian Creole framed around key research or methodological issues of broad general interest

Jun
08
2024

June 2024

AGM & the President's Lecture
Susan M. Fitzmaurice (Sheffield)

The lecture will be given in hybrid modality, online and in person at St Catharine's College, Cambridge; details TBD.

The lecture will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Society.

Please note that all ordinary meetings commence at 4:15pm. Members are welcome to come for tea at 3:45 pm.