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Miriam Meyerhoff

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Miriam Meyerhoff
FBA
Born1964 (age 59–60)
RelativesMary Cresswell (mother)
Hans Meyerhoff (father)
Max Cresswell (step-father)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania
Thesis'Be i no Gat' : constraints on null subjects in Bislama (1997)
Doctoral advisorGillian Sankoff
Academic work
DisciplineSociolinguistics
Institutions
WebsiteAll Souls College profile

Miriam Meyerhoff, FBA (born 1964) is a New Zealand sociolinguist and academic. In 2020, she was appointed a senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. In 2024 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.[1]

Early life and family

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Meyerhoff was born in 1964,[2] the daughter of poet Mary Cresswell and philosopher Hans Meyerhoff [de]. Her father died in a car accident the following year,[3] and her mother married logician Max Cresswell in 1970.[4] The family subsequently moved to New Zealand.[5]

Academic career

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Meyerhoff completed a Master of Arts degree at Victoria University of Wellington,[6] and, in 1997, a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.[7] Her PhD supervisor was Gillian Sankoff.

Meyerhoff has held faculty positions at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Auckland, and Victoria University of Wellington. In 2020, Meyerhoff was appointed a senior research fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford.[8][9][10]

Meyerhoff's research examines the sociolinguistic constraints on variation, principally in communities characterised by language or dialect contact.[11] Much of her work since her dissertation has been on Creoles, as their (typical) lack of standardisation leads to variation and change at all levels of linguistic structure.

She is the author of a well-regarded introductory textbook on sociolinguistics (Meyerhoff 2018).

Meyerhoff has spoken to media on linguistic issues, including: whether New Zealand speech is affected by migration patterns and diversity;[12][13] the use of the word eh in New Zealand English;[14] and the impact of digital technology on communication.[15]

Honours

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In 2017, Meyerhoff was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.[5][16] In 2020, was inducted as a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.[17] In 2024, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.[18]

Publications

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  • Holmes, Janet; Meyerhoff, Miriam (2003). The Handbook of Language and Gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 811 libraries.[19]
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam (2006). Introducing Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 511 libraries in 40 editions.[20]
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam; Nagy, Naomi (2008). Social Lives in Language—Sociolinguistics and Multilingual Speech Communities Celebrating the Work of Gillian Sankoff. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam; Schleef, Erik (2010). The Routledge Sociolinguistics Reader. London: Routledge.
  • Ehrlich, Susan; Meyerhoff, Miriam; Holmes, Janet (2014). The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality. Wiley Blackwell.
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam; Schleef, Erik; Mackenzie, Laurel (2015). Doing Sociolinguistics: A practical guide. London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
  • Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2018. Introducing Sociolinguistics. Routledge. ISBN 9781138185593
  • Hazenberg, Evan; Meyerhoff, Miriam (2017). Representing Trans: Linguistic, legal and everyday perspectives. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
  • Ansaldo, Umberto; Meyerhoff, Miriam (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages. London: Routledge.

References

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  1. ^ "The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows in 2024". British Academy. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Meyerhoff, Miriam". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Hans Meyerhoff, philosophy: Los Angeles". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Mary M Meyerhoff in the California, U.S., marriage index, 1960–1985". Ancestry.com Operations. 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Professor Miriam Meyerhoff made fellow of the Royal Society". Victoria University of Wellington. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  6. ^ "List of all Fellows with surnames M–O". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Doctoral Alumni | Department of Linguistics". www.ling.upenn.edu. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Miriam Meyerhoff - All Souls College". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Professor Miriam Meyerhoff - The University of Auckland". Arts.auckland.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  10. ^ Donovan, Emile (11 June 2021). "The Detail: Behind New Zealand's distinctive accent". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Miriam Meyerhoff". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  12. ^ Lynch, Keith (25 May 2021). "The New Zealand accent explained". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  13. ^ Wilson, Libby (30 December 2018). "NZ vowels on the move: where's our Kiwi accent going?". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  14. ^ MacManus, Joel (29 June 2019). "Why do New Zealanders say 'eh' so much?". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  15. ^ Keogh, Brittany (17 July 2019). "Using emojis at work helps colleagues see you as warmer, friendlier, says study". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  16. ^ "M-O". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Linguistic Society of America List of Fellows by Year". Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  18. ^ "The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows in 2024". thebritishacademy.ac.uk. The British Academy. 18 July 2024. Archived from the original on 24 July 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  19. ^ WorldCat book entry
  20. ^ WorldCat book entry
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