Prestigious trust grants Roehampton academic £106,000
- Wednesday, February 7, 2018
A Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Mark Jary by the Leverhulme Trust to work on a book investigating a revolutionary emerging theory on how language works.
Dr Jary, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Culture and Language, has been awarded £106,000 to fund this study this year.
The book will be titled Nothing is said and will be the first piece of research to thoroughly explore the idea of what a speaker explicitly says and what they otherwise conveyed, or implied. It will also explore why the distinction between explicitly saying something, and conveying an alternative meaning is crucial to our everyday communications, for example the difference between lying and misleading.
Dr Jary says ‘this work is important because it concerns the fundamental nature of language and its role in communication. It promises to shift how we think about key issues in linguistic semantics and pragmatics. The work draws on literature from a range of disciplines: linguistics, philosophy of language and cognitive science, and this grant will enable me to explore this literature in depth, and to engage with other scholars in Europe and the USA’.
Professor Claire Ozanne, Deputy Provost at the University of Roehampton says, ‘we are delighted by this award to Dr Jary who is an innovative researcher working at the cutting edge of his field. Roehampton supports world leading scholars across the breadth of its portfolio; Roehampton's research has significant impact in the private and public sector locally, nationally and internationally’.
Dr Jary's award was one of thirty-three Major Research Fellowships awarded by the Leverhulme Trust during 2017-18. The Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers, and it has provided grants and scholarships for research and education since 1925. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing approximately £80m a year. For more information about the Trust, please visit leverhulme.ac.uk.
The application process for this year's Major Research Fellowships is now open; closing date 10 May 2018.