Dr. Thorsten Brato

I am available to supervise BA and MA theses, as well as Zulassungsarbeiten, in English Linguistics. Candidates interested in working under my supervision must have attended at least one of my Hauptseminare and written a term paper for it.

Procedure

1. Initial Contact: Please email me at least six months before your planned submission date. Your email must include a brief outline (3–5 sentences) of your proposed topic. This should cover a working title, your research question/hypothesis, and the data you intend to use.
2. Consultation: We will discuss your outline during my office hours. If the project is viable, we will agree on the core aspects, such as theoretical frameworks, data sources, and variables.
3. Research Proposal: Following our meeting, you will be required to submit a research proposal of approximately 2,000 words (excluding references). This must adhere to the Linguistics Style Sheet and include:
   • Aims and objectives
   • Background context
   • Research questions/hypotheses
   • Data and methodology
   • Expected results

Preferred research areas

I am particularly interested in supervising projects in the following areas:

• English in Africa & World Englishes: Synchronic and diachronic approaches, corpus linguistics, grammar, lexis, phonetics, and phonology.
• Scottish English
• Corpus Linguistics
• Acoustic Phonetics
• Sociolinguistics: Sociophonetics, language variation and change, language attitudes.
• Youth Language

My research expertise lies in variationist linguistics, sociophonetics, and corpus linguistics. I obtained my PhD from the University of Giessen, where I investigated sociophonetic change and youth language in Aberdeen.

My focus has since shifted to English in Africa. I compiled the Historical Corpus of English in Ghana (HiCE Ghana), using it to analyse diachronic lexical and morphosyntactic variation. I have also published on the historical development of English in Ghana, with a particular emphasis on sociodemographic factors. From a synchronic perspective, I have researched t-affrication and variation in the vowel system. Additionally, I conducted fieldwork at a primary school in Yaoundé, Cameroon, collecting speech data from both children and adults. This work inspired the edited volume Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes (Mouton de Gruyter, 2024).

Currently, my research centres on the compilation of 'DiaNewsAfrica', a diachronic newspaper corpus covering 60 years of African Englishes across various nations.

Education

2017: Advanced University Teaching Certificate (Zertifikat Hochschullehre der Bayerischen Universitäten – Grund- und Vertiefungsstufe)

2012: PhD: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen – English Linguistics
Thesis: "A sociophonetic study of Aberdeen English: innovation and conservatism" (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Magnus Huber)

2005: 1. Staatsprüfung für die Lehrämter für die Sekundarstufe II und für die Sekundarstufe I: Universität Duisburg-Essen – English, English, Pedagogy, Education

1998: Abitur - Gymnasium Borbeck, Essen

Academic positions held/offered

2025: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen - Offered Acting Chair of English Linguistics  (declined)

since 2025: Universität Regensburg - Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben (Senior Teaching Fellow)

2024-2025: Universität Regensburg - Akademischer Rat (Lecturer)

2024: Universität Bayreuth - Acting Chair of English Linguistics

2023-2024: Universität Regensburg - Akademischer Rat (Lecturer)

2022-2023: Universität Bayreuth - Acting Chair of English Linguistics

2022: Universität Regensburg - Akademischer Rat (Lecturer)

2020-2022: Universität Regensburg - Acting Chair of English Linguistics

2019: Universität Bayreuth - Offered Acting Chair of English Linguistics  (declined)

2015-2020: Universität Regensburg - Akademischer Rat (Lecturer)

2014-2015: Westfälische-Wilhelms-Universität Münster - Acting Chair of English Linguistics

2012-2015: Technische Universität Chemnitz - Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Lecturer)

2005-2011: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen - Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research assistant)

Universität Regensburg

SS 2026

• Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use (Lecture)
• Propädeutikum Linguistik (Lecture)
• Text Analysis (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)
• Varieties of English (Hauptseminar)

WS 2025/26

• English in Africa (Proseminar)
• Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use (Lecture)
• Phonemic Transcription (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)
• Text Analysis (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)

SS 2025

• Acoustic Phonetics (Hauptseminar)
• Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use (Lecture)
• Introduction to English Linguistics: Phonetics & Phonology (Lecture)
• Postcolonial Englishes (Lecture)
• Text Analysis (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)

WS 2024/25

• Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use (Lecture)
• Tidy Linguistics: An Introduction to Data Wrangling In R (Hauptseminar)

Universität Bayreuth

SS 2024

• Compiling, Annotating and Exploring a Linguistic Corpus (Hauptseminar)
• Phonemic Transcription (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)
• The Language of Children and Teenagers (Hauptseminar)
• Tidy Linguistics: An Introduction to Data Wrangling In R (Hauptseminar)
• Vorbereitungskurs für die erste Staatsprüfung (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)

Universität Regensburg

WS 2023/24

• Compiling, Annotating and Exploring a Linguistic Corpus (Hauptseminar)
• Introduction to English Linguistics II: English in Use (Lecture)
• Text Analysis (Course for Lehramt exam candidates)

SS 2023

• Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use (Lecture)
• Understanding English in use (Seminar)

Universität Bayreuth

WS 2022/23

• Methods in Linguistics (Proseminar)
• Phonemic Transcription (Seminar)
• Staatsexamenskurs (Seminar)
• Theoretical Approaches to Language, Variation and Culture (Master seminar)
• World Englishes from a Historical Perspective (Hauptseminar)

Universität Regensburg

SS 2022

• Introduction to English Linguistics II: English in Use (Lecture)
• Text Analysis (Seminar)
• Understanding English linguistics II: English in use (Seminar)

WS 2021/22

• Collecting and Analysing Speech Data (Hauptseminar)
• Corpus Linguistics and World Englishes (Lecture)
• Introduction to English Linguistics II: English in Use (Lecture)
• Phonemic Transcription (Seminar)
• Text Analysis (Seminar)

SS 2021

• The phonetics and phonology of English (Lecture)
• Introduction to English linguistics II: English in use (Lecture)
• Language change (Hauptseminar)
• Recent Research in English Linguistics (Colloquium)
• Understanding English linguistics II: English in use (Seminar)

WS 2020/21

• Varieties of English (Lecture)
• From acquisition to teen talk: the language of children and adolescents (Hauptseminar)
• Corpus Linguistics (Seminar)
• Text analysis (Seminar)
• Understanding English Linguistics I: Theory and Structure (Seminar)

SS 2020

• Sociolinguistics (Lecture)
• English in Africa (Hauptseminar)
• Recent Research in English Linguistics (Colloquium)
• Readings in Linguistics (MA seminar)
• Understanding English Linguistics I: Theory and Structure (Seminar)

WS 2019/20

• Research Methods of Investigating Variation in English (MA seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2019

• Introduction to English linguistics

WS 2018/19

• World Englishes in a diachronic perspective (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2018

• Academic Research Sabbatical

WS 2017/18

• (Historical) Sociolinguistics (Seminar, cancelled)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar, 2 courses)

SS 2017

• Statistics in linguistics (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

WS 2016/17

• Morphology & word-formation (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2016

• English in the British Isles (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

WS 2015/16

• The structure of English (Lecture)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2015

• Syntaktische Analysen (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

Westfälische-Wilhems-Universität Münster

WS 2014/15

• The Pronunciation of English (Lecture)
• Accents of English (Lecture)
• Research Workshop: Accents of English (Seminar)
• Postgraduate Class (Linguistics) (Seminar)

Technische Universität Chemnitz

SS 2014

• Basic research methods in linguistics (Seminar)
• Advanced quantitative research in linguistics (Seminar)

WS 2013/14

• English variation world-wide (Seminar)
• Research colloquium (Seminar)

SS 2013

• Research seminar (Seminar)
• Advanced research methods (Seminar)

WS 2012/13

• Using and learning English world-wide (Seminar)
• Research colloquium (Seminar)

Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

WS 2011/12

• An introduction to statistics in linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2011

• Languages of Scotland: Historical and current perspectives (Seminar)

WS 2010/11

• Phonetics and phonology (Lecture)
• Grundkurs Promotion Fachmodul FB 05 (Linguistik) (Seminar for doctoral students of the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC))

SS 2010

• Doing linguistics: A practical approach to linguistic research methodology (Seminar)

WS 2009/10

• Doing linguistics: A practical approach to linguistic research methodology (Seminar)
• Grundkurs Promotion Fachmodul FB 05 (Linguistik) (Seminar for doctoral students of the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC))

SS 2009

• African Englishes (Seminar)

WS 2008/09

• Doing linguistics: A practical approach to linguistic research methodology (Seminar)
• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2008

• Visible speech: a practical introduction to acoustic phonetics (Seminar)

WS 2007/08

Language change (Seminar)

• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2007

• Urban accents in the British Isles (Seminar)

WS 2006/07

• Forensic linguistics (Seminar)

SS 2006

• Introduction to English linguistics (Seminar)

Monograph

2016. Variation and Change in Aberdeen English: A Sociophonetic Study. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. DOI: 10.3726/978-3-653-07196-2.

Edited collections

2026. African Englishes and Multilingualism for the Transformative Development of Postcolonial Africa. London: Bloomsbury (with Aloysius Ngefac, Paul Zang Zang and Jakob R. E. Leimgruber).

2024. Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes: Bridging Paradigms and Rethinking Approaches. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110733723 (with Mirjam Schmalz, Sarah Buschfeld and Manuela Vida-Mannl)

2010. Norms in Educational Linguistics: Linguistic, Didactic and Cultural Perspectives - Normen in Educational Linguistics: Sprachwissenschaftliche, Didaktische Und Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Frankfurt: Peter Lang (with Stefanie Dose, Sandra Götz and Christiane Brand).

Journal articles

2021. Extending Automatic Vowel Formant Extraction to New Englishes: A Comparison of Different Methods. English World-Wide 42(1), 54–84. DOI: 10.1075/eww.00060.mee (with Philipp Meer and Jose Alejandro Matute Flores).

2020. Noun Phrase Complexity in Ghanaian English. World Englishes 39, 377–393. DOI: 10.1111/weng.12479.

2018. ‘Outdooring’ the Historical Corpus of English in Ghana: Insights from the Compilation of a Historical Corpus of New English. English Today 34, 25–34. DOI: 10.1017/S0266078417000517.

Articles in edited collections

2026. English in Ghana. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), New Cambridge History of the English Language (Volume VI: Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2026. Exploring the Evolution of African Englishes Through Diachronic Corpora. In Aloysius Ngefac, Paul Zang Zang, Thorsten Brato & Jakob R. E. Leimgruber (eds.), African Englishes and Multilingualism for the Transformative Development of Postcolonial Africa, 79–96. London: Bloomsbury.

2024. Speech Rhythm in Cameroon English: A Cross-Generational Study. In Mirjam Schmalz, Sarah Buschfeld, Manuela Vida-Mannl & Thorsten Brato (eds.), Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes: Bridging Paradigms and Rethinking Approaches, 159–175. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110733723-008 (with Giuliana Regnoli).

2022. Studying Vowels in African Englishes: Past, Present, and Future. In Aloysius Ngefac, Hans-Georg Wolf, Thomas Hoffmann & Augustin Simo Bobda (eds.), World Englishes and Creole Languages Today: Vol. II: The Bobdian Thinking and Beyond, 41–61. München: Lincom.

2020. English in Ghana: Extra- and Intra-Territorial Forces in a Developmental Perspective. In Sarah Buschfeld & Alexander Kautzsch (eds.), Modelling World Englishes: A Joint Approach to Postcolonial and Non-postcolonial Varieties, 371–396. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474445863.003.0017.

2019. Lexical Expansion in Ghanaian English from a Diachronic Perspective: A Structural and Semantic Analysis. In Alexandra Esimaje, Ulrike Gut & Bassey E. Antia (eds.), Corpus Linguistics and African Englishes, 259–291. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/scl.88.12bra.

2019. The Historical Corpus of English in Ghana (HiCE Ghana): Motivation, Compilation, Opportunities. In Alexandra Esimaje, Ulrike Gut & Bassey E. Antia (eds.), Corpus Linguistics and African Englishes, 119–141. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/scl.88.06bra.

2015. A Pilot Study of Acoustic Features of Word-Final Affricated /t/ and /ts/ in Educated Ghanaian English. In Rita Calabrese, J. K. Chambers & Gerhard Leitner (eds.), Variation and Change in Postcolonial Contexts, 61–77. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

2014. Accent Variation and Change in North-East Scotland: The Case of (hw) in Aberdeen. In Robert Lawson (ed.), Sociolinguistics in Scotland: Current Perspectives on Scots, Scottish English and Gaelic, 32–52. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1057/9781137034717_3.

2012. English in Africa. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), Areal Features of the Anglophone World, 161–186. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110279429.161 (with Magnus Huber).

2011. ’Arrah, Ye Comin’ Oo’ for a Game O’ Fi’ba Ren?’ vs. ’Hello, You Coming out for a Game of Soccer Tonight?’: Jugendkultur und Sprachwandel in Aberdeen. In Janine Hauthal, Martin Zierold & Horst Carl (eds.), Kulturwissenschaften exemplarisch: Gießener Forschungsbeiträge zu acht Kernkompetenzen, 115–135. Trier: WVT.

2010. Norms in Educational Linguistics: An Introduction. In Stefanie Dose, Sandra Götz, Thorsten Brato & Christiane Brand (eds.), Norms in Educational Linguistics: Linguistic, Didactic and Cultural Perspectives - Normen in Educational Linguistics: Sprachwissenschaftliche, Didaktische Und Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, 1–7. Frankfurt: Peter Lang (with Christiane Brand, Stefanie Dose and Sandra Götz).

2007. Accent Variation in Adolescents in Aberdeen: First Results for (hw) and (th). In Jürgen Trouvain & William J. Barry (eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1489–1492. Saarbrücken: Universität des Saarlandes.

Reviews

2016. Review: Ole Schützler - A Sociophonetic Approach to Scottish Standard English. English Language and Linguistics 20(2), 364–369. DOI: 10.1017/S1360674316000046.

2006. Review: Danielle a.V. Löw-Wiebach - Language Attitudes and Language Use in Pitmedden (Aberdeenshire). KULT_online (11), 11.