About
Claire Nance is a Professor of Phonetics at Lancaster University's Department of Linguistics and English Language, within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her research focuses on sociolinguistics, phonetics, and laboratory phonology, with a specialization in Celtic languages (particularly Scottish Gaelic), bilingualism, minority language revitalization, and ultrasound tongue imaging. She leads projects on North-West English dialects, such as the 'Lancashire Tongues' initiative, and studies intonation patterns in Glasgow Gaelic and Liverpool English.
Her academic contributions include work on articulatory phonetics in multilingual contexts, the acoustics of Gaelic sonorants, and the sociolinguistic implications of language contact. She supervises PhD students in sociophonetics, bilingualism, and minority language studies. Nance is affiliated with the Phonetics Lab and collaborates on public engagement initiatives like 'Visible Voices' and 'Linguistics in the City,' bridging academic research with community outreach.
Recent research projects include investigations into child language acquisition of Estonian palatalization and the phonetic dynamics of Gaelic-English bilingualism. She actively contributes to revitalization efforts for minority languages through both scholarly work and community-based activities.
