Natalie Braber
Biographic Data
| ID | 643059 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Natalie Braber |
| GIVEN NAMES | Natalie |
| FAMILY NAME | Braber |
| SIGNATURE | BRABER N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Nottingham Trent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2611-1190 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Introduction to the special issue: Slowly shifting toward slow memory
This article introduces the special issue Slow Memory Studies , which emerges from the COST Action “Slow Memory: Transformative Practices for Times of Uneven and Accelerating Change.” In a world defined by rapid technological, socio economic, and political shifts, the concept of slow memory offers an alternative analytical framework that foregrounds gradual, often imperceptible transformations shaping everyday life. Rather than centring spectacul…
Solidarity: A slow memory concept
This article rethinks solidarity as a “Slow Memory” concept, drawing on life-story interviews with retired trade unionists across Europe. While often framed as a cornerstone of labor history, solidarity has never held a singular meaning; its uses have shifted across ideological traditions and historical contexts. The article combines conceptual history with the framework of a Slow Memory approach, emphasizing how meaning emerges incrementally thr…
Stereotyped accent judgements in forensic contexts: Listener perceptions of social traits and types of behaviour
This paper reports the findings from a multidisciplinary and cross-institutional Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project called ‘Improving Voice Identification Procedures’ (IVIP). People harbour stereotypes about particular accents, and those judgements may be brought with them into the legal domain. Considering the potential consequences of accent judgements by witnesses and jurors, this study examines the relationship between…
When You’re in the Pit or the Pub, They’re All Mates’: Coal Mining Communities in the East Midlands
Language change is wicked: Semantic and social meaning of a polysemous adjective
As a result of an ameliorative shift-to-opposite, the polysemous adjective wicked is an auto-antonym, having two senses opposite in meaning, that is, ‘evil’ and ‘good’. We discuss two studies which explore the social life of this word, with the first focusing on its production and the second on its perception. In the first study, conducted in Cornwall, United Kingdom, we find that young men are most advanced in the use of wicked ‘good’ while youn…
The Stability of the trap-bath Split in the East Midlands
This article reviews the status of the trap-bath split in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The East Midlands forms a linguistic transition zone between northern English varieties which lack (part of) the trap-bath split, and southern English varieties which have this split. We examine the acoustic properties of trap and bath in the region to determine whether this pattern is stable o…
‘Is he a barrister or not?’
Barristers present formalised legal arguments before courts and tribunals. As a result, considerable focus is placed on their oral skills. However, people are frequently judged by the accent they use. Those with a more standard accent – ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP) in the UK – can be perceived as more intelligent and eloquent. This creates a barrier to social mobility because accent-based bias can discriminate against those with non-standard acc…
How “U” are “U” words: Exploring variation in the usage and perception of class-based lexical shibboleths in British English
That U (upper-class) and non-U (non-upper class) speakers are identifiable through their vocabulary is an axiom in England. These claims are repeated in books, in print media, on social media, and in conversations regarding social class. However, such claims are seldom investigated empirically. To redress this, we consider the production and perception of allegedly U and non-U lexis through two studies. In the first, we identify the sociolinguist…
Language Heritage and the UK Public: Successes and Challenges of the UK Heritage Sector
The United Kingdom (UK) lacks a uniform approach to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) such as language. The UK ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in June 2024. In the absence of any UK-wide ICH framework, various approaches to safeguarding ICH have been taken at nation-level and at the level of (usually individual) museums, libraries and heritage groups. ICH can bring tangible heritag…
Evaluating earwitness identification procedures: Adapting pre-parade instructions and parade procedure
Voice identification parades can be unreliable, as earwitness responses are error-prone. In this paper we tested performance across serial and sequential procedures, and varied pre-parade instructions, with the aim of reducing errors. The participants heard a target voice and later attempted to identify it from a parade. In Experiment 1 they were either warned that the target may or may not be present (standard warning) or encouraged to consider …
Assessing the Specificity and Accuracy of Accent Judgments by Lay Listeners
Historically, there has been less research carried out on earwitness than eyewitness testimony. However, in some cases, earwitness evidence might play an important role in securing a conviction. This paper focuses on accent which is a central characteristic of voices in a forensic linguistic context. The paper focuses on two experiments (Experiment 1, n = 41; Experiment 2, n = 57) carried out with participants from a wide range of various locatio…
Lexical Variation of an East Midlands Mining Community
Coal mining, a prominent industry once situated at the heart of communities across the East Midlands, has now completely ceased in the UK. Although there is some attempt to keep hold of the artefacts that tell us about mining, mining language remains neglected. This book shows there is a variety of ‘pit talk’ that is distinctive to the East Midlands and explains this language used by miners in their day-to-day lives.This highly specialised lexico…
Coal Mining Language in the East Midlands
The History and Geography of the East Midlands Coalfield
Coal has been mined in Britain for many centuries. This chapter includes a brief discussion of the coal mining industry in the UK, followed by an examination of the different coalfields in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It includes information about the geography and history of individual collieries and considers migration of miners. Furthermore, this chapter aims to show how the mines were a crucial component of the region’s com…
The pragmatic functions of 'respect' in lawyers' courtroom discourse: A case study of Brexit hearings
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link
Foot -Fronting and Foot – Strut Splitting: Vowel variation in the East Midlands
This article investigates the status of the foot – strut split in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The East Midlands area is a linguistic transition zone between northern English varieties with a phoneme inventory of five short vowels, where foot and strut are represented by the same phoneme, and southern English varieties which have the foot – strut split and therefore six short vowe…
From Tangier to Locarno: The Experience of War in Nottingham and Language Use in Local Newspapers, 1905-1925
This article applies a historical linguistic approach to compare specific word choice before, during and after the First World War in a sample of UK newspapers and two Nottingham papers. It finds that language use in Nottingham newspapers was similar to UK papers but at the same time showed marked differences, possibly as a result of local characteristics, circumstances, events and developments, which suggests that people’s experience of war in t…
Language perception in the East Midlands in England: Investigating East Midlands adolescents' perception of language variation in the UK
Previous research by the author has examined the concept of identity in the East Midlands and how this can be relatively problematic in the region (Braber, 2014). This paper aims to extend this topic by investigating views of young people living in the East Midlands using a folk linguistic approach. Preston (1989, 1999b) claims that perceptual dialectology looks at non-linguists' beliefs and perceptions about the similarities of their own speech …
Language variation in the West Midlands
West Midlands English: Birmingham and The Black Country forms part of the series Dialects of English which has so far included volumes on varieties such as: Urban North-Eastern English, Hong Kong English, Newfoundland and Labrador English, Irish English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Singapore English and Northern and Insular Scots. As such, it follows the general format of the series which covers the history and geography of a region, cha…
The concept of identity in the East Midlands of England: Investigating feelings of identity in East Midlands adolescents
When considering dialectal variation in the UK, linguists have frequently considered the North/South divide and the linguistic markers separating the two regions (see for example Trudgill, 1999; Wells, 1986). But it has been noted that this is not a straightforward division (e.g. Beal, 2008; Goodey, Gold, Duffett & Spencer, 1971; Montgomery, 2007; Wales, 2002). There are clear stereotypes for the North and South – but how do areas like the East M…
Combining Modal Particles in German and Dutch
This paper is a corpus-based comparative study of modal particles in German and Dutch. We examine the special ability of Dutch and German modal particles to cluster, and demonstrate that Dutch is far more cluster-friendly than German. We also find clear differences in the behavior of cognate particles in the two languages and note that a corpus study reveals quite different patterns from those arrived at by introspection in earlier research. Fina…
“I'm Not a Fanatic Scot, But I Love Glasgow”: Concepts of Local and National Identity in Glasgow
In this article, a grounded theory approach is used to explore notions of national and local identity held by two groups of Glaswegians: those residing in Glasgow and those living in England (sample size = 17). The data suggest that both groups have a strong sense of Glaswegian as well as Scottish identity, but there appear to be some differences between participants. Some Glasgow participants seem to identify more strongly with the negative pres…
Emotional and emotive language: Modal particles and tags in unified Berlin
The pragmatic functions of 'respect' in lawyers' courtroom discourse: A case study of Brexit hearings
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link
Emotional and emotive language: Modal particles and tags in unified Berlin
Emotional and emotive language: Modal particles and tags in unified Berlin
“I'm Not a Fanatic Scot, But I Love Glasgow”: Concepts of Local and National Identity in Glasgow
In this article, a grounded theory approach is used to explore notions of national and local identity held by two groups of Glaswegians: those residing in Glasgow and those living in England (sample size = 17). The data suggest that both groups have a strong sense of Glaswegian as well as Scottish identity, but there appear to be some differences between participants. Some Glasgow participants seem to identify more strongly with the negative pres…
Combining Modal Particles in German and Dutch
This paper is a corpus-based comparative study of modal particles in German and Dutch. We examine the special ability of Dutch and German modal particles to cluster, and demonstrate that Dutch is far more cluster-friendly than German. We also find clear differences in the behavior of cognate particles in the two languages and note that a corpus study reveals quite different patterns from those arrived at by introspection in earlier research. Fina…
The concept of identity in the East Midlands of England: Investigating feelings of identity in East Midlands adolescents
When considering dialectal variation in the UK, linguists have frequently considered the North/South divide and the linguistic markers separating the two regions (see for example Trudgill, 1999; Wells, 1986). But it has been noted that this is not a straightforward division (e.g. Beal, 2008; Goodey, Gold, Duffett & Spencer, 1971; Montgomery, 2007; Wales, 2002). There are clear stereotypes for the North and South – but how do areas like the East M…
Language perception in the East Midlands in England: Investigating East Midlands adolescents' perception of language variation in the UK
Previous research by the author has examined the concept of identity in the East Midlands and how this can be relatively problematic in the region (Braber, 2014). This paper aims to extend this topic by investigating views of young people living in the East Midlands using a folk linguistic approach. Preston (1989, 1999b) claims that perceptual dialectology looks at non-linguists' beliefs and perceptions about the similarities of their own speech …
Language variation in the West Midlands
West Midlands English: Birmingham and The Black Country forms part of the series Dialects of English which has so far included volumes on varieties such as: Urban North-Eastern English, Hong Kong English, Newfoundland and Labrador English, Irish English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Singapore English and Northern and Insular Scots. As such, it follows the general format of the series which covers the history and geography of a region, cha…
Foot -Fronting and Foot – Strut Splitting: Vowel variation in the East Midlands
This article investigates the status of the foot – strut split in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The East Midlands area is a linguistic transition zone between northern English varieties with a phoneme inventory of five short vowels, where foot and strut are represented by the same phoneme, and southern English varieties which have the foot – strut split and therefore six short vowe…
From Tangier to Locarno: The Experience of War in Nottingham and Language Use in Local Newspapers, 1905-1925
This article applies a historical linguistic approach to compare specific word choice before, during and after the First World War in a sample of UK newspapers and two Nottingham papers. It finds that language use in Nottingham newspapers was similar to UK papers but at the same time showed marked differences, possibly as a result of local characteristics, circumstances, events and developments, which suggests that people’s experience of war in t…
Lexical Variation of an East Midlands Mining Community
Coal mining, a prominent industry once situated at the heart of communities across the East Midlands, has now completely ceased in the UK. Although there is some attempt to keep hold of the artefacts that tell us about mining, mining language remains neglected. This book shows there is a variety of ‘pit talk’ that is distinctive to the East Midlands and explains this language used by miners in their day-to-day lives.This highly specialised lexico…
Coal Mining Language in the East Midlands
The History and Geography of the East Midlands Coalfield
Coal has been mined in Britain for many centuries. This chapter includes a brief discussion of the coal mining industry in the UK, followed by an examination of the different coalfields in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It includes information about the geography and history of individual collieries and considers migration of miners. Furthermore, this chapter aims to show how the mines were a crucial component of the region’s com…
The pragmatic functions of 'respect' in lawyers' courtroom discourse: A case study of Brexit hearings
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link
Evaluating earwitness identification procedures: Adapting pre-parade instructions and parade procedure
Voice identification parades can be unreliable, as earwitness responses are error-prone. In this paper we tested performance across serial and sequential procedures, and varied pre-parade instructions, with the aim of reducing errors. The participants heard a target voice and later attempted to identify it from a parade. In Experiment 1 they were either warned that the target may or may not be present (standard warning) or encouraged to consider …
Assessing the Specificity and Accuracy of Accent Judgments by Lay Listeners
Historically, there has been less research carried out on earwitness than eyewitness testimony. However, in some cases, earwitness evidence might play an important role in securing a conviction. This paper focuses on accent which is a central characteristic of voices in a forensic linguistic context. The paper focuses on two experiments (Experiment 1, n = 41; Experiment 2, n = 57) carried out with participants from a wide range of various locatio…
Language change is wicked: Semantic and social meaning of a polysemous adjective
As a result of an ameliorative shift-to-opposite, the polysemous adjective wicked is an auto-antonym, having two senses opposite in meaning, that is, ‘evil’ and ‘good’. We discuss two studies which explore the social life of this word, with the first focusing on its production and the second on its perception. In the first study, conducted in Cornwall, United Kingdom, we find that young men are most advanced in the use of wicked ‘good’ while youn…
The Stability of the trap-bath Split in the East Midlands
This article reviews the status of the trap-bath split in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The East Midlands forms a linguistic transition zone between northern English varieties which lack (part of) the trap-bath split, and southern English varieties which have this split. We examine the acoustic properties of trap and bath in the region to determine whether this pattern is stable o…
‘Is he a barrister or not?’
Barristers present formalised legal arguments before courts and tribunals. As a result, considerable focus is placed on their oral skills. However, people are frequently judged by the accent they use. Those with a more standard accent – ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP) in the UK – can be perceived as more intelligent and eloquent. This creates a barrier to social mobility because accent-based bias can discriminate against those with non-standard acc…
How “U” are “U” words: Exploring variation in the usage and perception of class-based lexical shibboleths in British English
That U (upper-class) and non-U (non-upper class) speakers are identifiable through their vocabulary is an axiom in England. These claims are repeated in books, in print media, on social media, and in conversations regarding social class. However, such claims are seldom investigated empirically. To redress this, we consider the production and perception of allegedly U and non-U lexis through two studies. In the first, we identify the sociolinguist…
Language Heritage and the UK Public: Successes and Challenges of the UK Heritage Sector
The United Kingdom (UK) lacks a uniform approach to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) such as language. The UK ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in June 2024. In the absence of any UK-wide ICH framework, various approaches to safeguarding ICH have been taken at nation-level and at the level of (usually individual) museums, libraries and heritage groups. ICH can bring tangible heritag…
Stereotyped accent judgements in forensic contexts: Listener perceptions of social traits and types of behaviour
This paper reports the findings from a multidisciplinary and cross-institutional Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project called ‘Improving Voice Identification Procedures’ (IVIP). People harbour stereotypes about particular accents, and those judgements may be brought with them into the legal domain. Considering the potential consequences of accent judgements by witnesses and jurors, this study examines the relationship between…
When You’re in the Pit or the Pub, They’re All Mates’: Coal Mining Communities in the East Midlands
Introduction to the special issue: Slowly shifting toward slow memory
This article introduces the special issue Slow Memory Studies , which emerges from the COST Action “Slow Memory: Transformative Practices for Times of Uneven and Accelerating Change.” In a world defined by rapid technological, socio economic, and political shifts, the concept of slow memory offers an alternative analytical framework that foregrounds gradual, often imperceptible transformations shaping everyday life. Rather than centring spectacul…
Solidarity: A slow memory concept
This article rethinks solidarity as a “Slow Memory” concept, drawing on life-story interviews with retired trade unionists across Europe. While often framed as a cornerstone of labor history, solidarity has never held a singular meaning; its uses have shifted across ideological traditions and historical contexts. The article combines conceptual history with the framework of a Slow Memory approach, emphasizing how meaning emerges incrementally thr…
Linguistics (15 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (12 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Geography (8 works) · History (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (5 works)