BA (Trinity College Dublin), M.Phil (Cantab), D.Phil (Oxon)
Stipendiary Lecturer in French
Address: Balliol College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BJ
Email: damien.mooney@balliol.ox.ac.uk or mooneyda@tcd.ie
From Sept. 2014:
Lecturer in French Studies
School of Modern Languages, 8 University Square, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland.
Research
My research investigates the genesis and evolution of the regional French ‘accent’ by examining the theoretical linguistic processes that have motivated language variation and change in the variety. My work focuses primarily on the pronunciation and sound system of the regional variety of French spoken in Béarn, south-western France, and on the indigenous regional language of Béarn, Béarnais. I am also interested in the role of levelling in the maintenance and loss of non-standard phonological, morpho-syntactic and lexical variants in regional dialects and in the use of acoustic phonetics in documenting and explaining phonological variation.
Publications
Mooney, D. 2011. ‘Koinéization and Regional French: New-dialect Formation in Béarn’, French Studies Bulletin 121, 76-82.
Mooney, D. 2014. ‘Illustrations of the IPA: Béarnais (Gascon)’, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 44.3.
Mooney, D. (accepted). 'Confrontation and langauge policy: non-militant perspectives on conflicting revitalisation strategies in Béarn, France', in M. C. Jones (under contract), Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Conference and Seminar Papers
June 2014. Conference Paper: « Tu veux du [vẽŋ]? »: phonetic transfer in the nasal vowels of French-Occitan bilinguals. Association of French Language Studies (AFLS) Annual Conference, University of Kent.
April 2014. Conference Paper: Phonetic transfer in language contact: evidence for equivalence classification in the mid-vowels of French-Occitan bilinguals. British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP) Colloquium, St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford.
November 2013. Invited speaker: The interplay of national and regional language policies in France: a case study of Béarn. French Linguistics Research Seminar, Peterhouse, University of Cambridge.
September 2013. Conference Poster: Supralocalisation in French: a Sociophonetic Analysis of the Mid-Vowels in the Regional French of Béarn. 9th UK Language Variation and Change Conference (UKLVC), Sheffield University.
July 2013. Conference Paper: Confrontation and language policy: non-militant perspectives on conflicting revitalisation strategies in Béarn, France. Third Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, University of Cambridge.
June 2013. Conference Paper: Dialect Levelling and Language Change: a Sociophonetic Analysis of Nasal Vowels in the Regional French of Béarn. Association of French Language Studies (AFLS) Annual Conference, Université de Perpignan.
November 2012. Invited Speaker: Language Contact and Dialect Contact: Phonetic and Phonological Variation and Change in the Regional French of Béarn. Romance Linguistics Seminar,University of Oxford.
June 2012. Conference Paper: Phonological Variation and (Perceptual) Salience: Social Indexicality in the Regional French of Béarn. Association of French Language Studies (AFLS) Annual Conference, Newcastle University.
January 2012. Conference Paper: La langue béarnaise or l’occitan du Béarn: linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives on the autonomy of Bearnese Gascon. Romance Linguistics Seminar (RLS), Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge.
September 2011. Conference Poster: Perceptual Salience Modelling and Phonological Variation: a case study of Bearn, France. 8th UK Language Variation and Change Conference (UKLVC), Edge Hill University, Ormskirk.
March 2011. Invited speaker: Perceptual Salience, Phonological Variation and Identity: the Regional French of Béarn. French Linguistics Research Seminar, Peterhouse, University of Cambridge.
Teaching
2012 - 2014 Stipendiary Lecturer in French, Balliol College, University of Oxford
2013 - 2014 Temporary Lecturer in French Linguistics, University of Cambridge
Preliminary Examination (Oxford):
French Paper IIA – Unprepared translation into English
French Paper IIB – Prepared translation into English from Prescribed Texts
Linguistics Paper IX – Phonetics and Phonology
Final Honours School (Oxford):
French Paper IIA – Translation from modern French
French Paper V – Linguistic Studies II (Modern French)
Linguistics Paper XII – Linguistic Project
Linguistics Paper XIII – Linguistic Theory
MML Tripos Part 1A and Part 1B (Cambridge):
French Paper Fr1 - Introduction to French Linguistics
French Paper Fr2 - Structures and varieties of French