In England and Wales, the Mental Health Act can be used to detain people experiencing a mental health crisis, and who may pose a danger to themselves or others. However, some of those assessed under these powers will not use spoken English. Here, Professor Alys Young, Dr Rebecca Tipton, and Dr Natalia Rodríguez-Vicente explore the effects on the assessment […]
What’s your language? Variation, dialect, interpreters and public services
As our public services face increasing linguistic diversity, booking a spoken language interpreter is often more complex than service providers realise or are trained to handle. In this article, Dr Leonie Gaiser and Dr Rebecca Tipton draw on their cross-disciplinary expertise in Linguistics and Interpreting Studies, to explore challenges in arranging language provision and discuss […]
From celebration to public policy: International Mother Language Day as a civic identity badge
On 21 February 2021, Manchester will again be celebrating UNESCO International Mother Language Day (IMLD). This year’s activities will be held online to accommodate to the pandemic conditions. For the second time, they are being coordinated by the City of Literature initiative based in Manchester’s local authority. In this blog, Professor Yaron Matras, Dr Daniele […]