School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

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Nicola McLelland

Professor of German and History of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

I am currently Head of School for the School of Humanities.

I studied German and French at the University of Sydney, Australia. After two years on a scholarship in Bonn, Germany, I gained my PhD from the University of Sydney in medieval German literature. An MPhil in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge sparked my interest in the history of people's ideas and beliefs about language and how to use it. My first post was at Trinity College, Dublin; I've been in German at Nottingham since 2005. In 2020, I was awarded the Grimm Prize, awarded annually to an academic working in German Studies outside Germany who has made an outstanding contribution to international work in the area. You can read more about my personal interest in German here, in a profile for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) who award the Grimm prize.

I've never stopped learning languages. In addition to French and German, I have made good headway with Latin, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, and, most recently, Chinese.

Expertise Summary

My research explores the history of people's ideas about languages, how to learn them and how to use them. Together with Richard Smith (Warwick) I established an AHRC-funded research network on the History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT) in Britain and beyond (2012-2014), which continues as the HoLLT network. My most recent book, Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages provides a comprehensive history of language teaching and learning in the UK from its earliest beginnings to the present, including the history of languages policy and assessment. My previous book, German Through English Eyes, published in 2015, is a history of how German language and culture has been presented to English-speaking learners of German since 1500. Other research interests include German medieval literature (the subject of my PhD), German sociolinguistics, language standardization, codeswitching, language and gender, and linguistic purism.

Books

Professional Service: I have been a member of the AHRC Peer Review College since 2010. I have previously been member of the Philological Society's Council, and am currently President of the Association for German Studies. I am also Chair of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas, and was lead editor of the journal Language & History,for ten years to 2020. I also serve on the editorial board of a number of other journals.

Teaching Summary

I teach German linguistics across the board, from the early history of the Germanic languages to current developments in German speech and grammar, as well as German sociolinguistics, including such… read more

Research Summary

My main area of research is the history of ideas about language, especially the history of grammar, lexicography (dictionaries) and foreign language education, and issues in language standardization… read more

Recent Publications

School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

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Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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