Bernadette O'Rourke (also known as Bernie O'Rourke) is an Irish linguist from

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. She is currently Professor of

Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...

and

Hispanic Studies Hispanism (sometimes referred to as Hispanic studies or Spanish studies) is the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, principally that of Spain and Hispanic America. It may also entail studying Spanish language an ...

at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and is a specialist in the construction of difference through language and social inequalities. Her research focuses on "neophones" or new speakers of

minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

s such as

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigeno ...

and Galician. She has also published and commented on the assumptions of monolinguism in Great Britain, particularly in the context of Brexit, public policy related to minority languages in Ireland, the UK, and Europe.

Career

O'Rourke has taught at the Universidade da Corunha,

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

and

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

where she has taught Spanish and Sociolinguisitcs. In addition to expertise in Irish Gaelic and Galician, O'Rourke has also promoted the support of Gaelic education in Scotland.

Publications

Books

* O'Rourke, Bernadette and J. Walsh. ''New Speakers of Irish in the Global Context. New Revival?''. Routledge, 2020. . * O'Rourke, Bernadette. ''Galician and Irish in the European Context: Attitudes Toward Weak and Strong Minority Languages''. Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2011. .

Selected journal articles

* * * * * * *

References

External links

Faculty page, University of Glasgow
{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Bernadette Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Linguists from Ireland Women linguists People associated with Heriot-Watt University Alumni of Dublin City University Academics of the University of Glasgow