DEBORAH CHIRREY

Dr. Deborah Chirrey is the Associate Head of the Department of English & Creative Arts, affiliated with the Culture Power and Inclusion Research Group. Her work focuses on linguistic constructions of identity, particularly in LGBTQ+ contexts. She specializes in analyzing discourse structures in coming-out narratives, structural metaphors, and script formulations in advice texts. Her research spans topics like gender studies, queer theory, and sociolinguistics.

Key research contributions include examining how structural metaphors shape coming-out discourses (2020), analyzing script formulations in advice texts (2012), and exploring lesbian representation in advice literature (2007). Her work bridges linguistic analysis with social meaning-making processes.

Chirrey’s publications span journals like Gender and Language and Discourse Studies, focusing on intersectional themes of identity, language, and power. She has supervised 1 graduate student and her research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to discourse analysis.