Biography

Helen Kelly-Holmes is Professor of Applied Languages in the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, Ollscoil Luimnigh/University of Limerick and is an active member of the Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS), having previously served as Director of the Centre. Following undergraduate studies in Business and German at UL, Helen completed her PhD studies at Aston University, Birmingham in 1995. Helen returned to UL as a UL Foundation Research Scholar in 2002 from a lecturing post at Aston University, Birmingham, and was appointed to the Chair in Applied Languages in 2015. From September 2017 to March 2021, she served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Helen's research has appeared in more than 95 peer reviewed books, chapters and articles. From 2015-2020, Helen was Co-Editor of Language Policy, the leading journal in the field, and since 2002 has along with Sue Wright edited Palgrave's long-running book series on Language and Globalization. Helen holds an Adjunct Professorship in Discourse Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, where she has collaborated with long-time associate Prof. Sari Pietikainen on two Finnish-Academy funded projects (Northern Multilingualism and Peripheral Multilingualism). Helen is currently a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Sociolinguistics, World Englishes, Language Policy (emeritus editor), Text and Talk, and is a member of the advisory committees of Sociolinguistica and the European Centre for Minority Issues. In 2023, Helen was elected to membership of the Royal Irish Academy.


Research Interests

Helen is a member of the Centre for Applied Languages Studies and of the TESOL/Linguistics Section of the School of MLAL. Her research concerns sociolinguistics, the study of language in society, and focuses on the interrelationship between media, markets, technologies and languages and the management of these relationships. She is particularly interested in the economic aspects of multilingualism, especially in relation to minority languages and the global political economy of English. Recent books include: Language, Global Mobilities, Blue-Collar Workers and Blue-collar Workplaces (Edited with K. Gonçalves, Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism, 2020); Sociolinguistics from the Periphery: Small Languages in New Circumstances (with S. Pietikainen, A. Jaffe & N. Coupland - Cambridge University Press, 2016) and the four volume edited collection Language and the Media (Routledge Critical Concepts in Linguistics 2015). Some recent articles / chapters include:

Professional Activities

Award

  • 2023 - Membership
  • 2009 - Adjunct Professorship in Discourse Studies

Employment

  • 1995 Aston University, Birmingham, UK - Lecturer

Education

  • 1995 Aston University, Birmingham - Doctor of Philosophy
  • 1991 University of Limerick - B.Business Studies

Association

  • Member, Irish Association of Applied Linguistics

Committee

  • Series Co-Editor, Language and Globalization (Palgrave),
  • Editorial Board, Discourse, Context and Media,
  • Editorial Board, World Englishes,
  • Editorial Board, Language Policy ,
  • Advisory Board, Sociolinguistica Journal ,
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Sociolinguistics,
  • Editorial Board, Text and Talk Journal,
  • Advisory Board European Centre for Minorities,

Language

  • English
  • German
  • Gaeilge

Peer Reviewed Journals

2004

An analysis of the languages in students' repertoires and the languages they use on the Internet (France, Italy, Indonesia Macedonia, Oman, Poland, Tanzania, and Ukraine) International Journal on Multicultural Society

Kelly-Holmes, H (2004) An analysis of the languages in students' repertoires and the languages they use on the Internet (France, Italy, Indonesia Macedonia, Oman, Poland, Tanzania, and Ukraine) International Journal on Multicultural Society. International Journal On Multicultural Society :29-52

Books

Book Chapters

2024

Heritage Languages in the Digital Age

Kelly-Holmes, Helen (2024) Heritage Languages in the Digital Age. UK : Multilingual Matters Language Ideologies, Digital Technology and Emerging Hierarchies of Knowledge :15-34

2018

Minority Languages and Markets

Pietikäinen, S.; Kelly-Holmes, H., Rieder, M. (2018) Minority Languages and Markets. Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities

2016

Virtual Ethnography

Lenihan, A;Kelly-Holmes, H (2016) Virtual Ethnography. OXFORD : BLACKWELL SCIENCE PUBL RESEARCH METHODS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: A PRACTICAL GUIDE :255-267

2016

Theorising the market in sociolinguistics

Kelly-Holmes, H,Coupland, N (2016) Theorising the market in sociolinguistics. Oxford and New York : Oxford University Press Sociolinguistics: Theoretical Debates :157-172

2015

Digital advertising

Kelly-Holmes H. (2015) Digital advertising. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Digital Communication :212-225

2013

Multilingualism and the Periphery

Pietikainen, Sari and Kelly-Holmes, Helen (2013) Multilingualism and the Periphery. New York and Oxford : Oxford University Press Multilingualism and the Periphery :1-16

2012

Multilingualism and Media

Helen Kelly-Holmes and Sari Pietikainen (2012) Multilingualism and Media. New York and Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Applied Linguistics

2012

Multilingualism and the media

Kelly-Holmes, H. (2012) Multilingualism and the media. London and New York : Routledge The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism :333-346

2010

Languages and Global Marketing

Kelly-Holmes, H. (2010) Languages and Global Marketing. Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell The Handbook of Language and Globalization :475-492

2002

Whose language? Whose culture?

Kelly-Holmes, H (2002) Whose language? Whose culture?. London : Edward Arnold Contemporary German Cultural Studies. Edward Arnold :40-60

Edited Books

Other Journals

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Conference Publications

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Conference Contributions

Published Reports

Editorials

2019

Editorial

Kelly-Holmes H.;Menken K. (2019) Editorial. Language Policy

2016

Editorial

Garcia, O,Kelly-Holmes, H (2016) Editorial. :1-2

Book Reviews

Other Publications

2019

Editorial

Kelly-Holmes H.;Menken K. (2019) Editorial. Language Policy

2016

Editorial

Garcia, O,Kelly-Holmes, H (2016) Editorial. :1-2