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Professor of Sociolinguistics

Telephone : +44 (0)20 8392 3416
Email : T.Omoniyi@roehampton.ac.uk
Department : Media, Culture and Language
Office location : Queen's Building 119

Send a message to Professor Tope Omoniyi

About

Like everyone else, I have multiple lives. In another life I am a poet with a published volume to my name and a couple of manuscripts awaiting publication. My work has also appeared in poetry magazines/journals and anthologies in Singapore, the USA, the UK, South Africa, Norway and Nigeria. I do some closet short story writing and scriptwriting.

You can read some of my work here:

- Farting Presidents & Other Poems, a volume of poetry, Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2001.
- Sentinel Poetry http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/magazine0604/
- African Writing http://www.african-writing.com/hol/skyomoniyi.htm

Research Interests

I was appointed to the Chair of Sociolinguistics in 2007 and I am the director of the Centre for Research in English Language and Linguistics which is home to our doctoral research students and visiting scholars. The Centre runs regular seminars and guest speakers are welcome from the Academy, both local and global.

I have diverse research interests which to date have been determined by, or been in response to, circumstances in which I find myself on my academic journeys. This diversity is reflected in the range of work that I have undertaken and/or published so far.

Research Project Undertaken

Broadly, I have published in the areas of borderland sociolinguistics, language policies, politics and education, language and identity, language and popular culture especially hip-hop and Nollywood films, and World Englishes.

With reference to regions, I have undertaken and published research on the Nigeria-Benin, Singapore – Malaysia and the Nigeria – Cameroon borderlands. I have done some investigation of refugee and immigrant communities in Dublin (1997-1998) and West London (1999). I have recently developed interest in abstract notions of borders and e-borderlands by investigating identity in translocal, diasporic, and virtual communities as well as identities constructed by West African rap and hip-hop artistes.

Since 2002, I have been part of an international research network on globalization, identity politics and social conflicts (GIPSC). Currently, my collaboration with the Open University's Ferguson Centre for Asian and African Studies is on the Nollywood and African Diaspora Project. I coordinate an international research network on EU accession and identity, as well as an international network on the sociology of language and religion.

Prospective research students

As my publications show, my research has covered broad areas of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and the sociology of language and religion. I shall welcome applications from research students wishing to investigate topics in aspects of Sub-Sahara African language policy and development, language and identity especially of youth, hip-hop cultural identity, media (including film, music) and Black and African diasporic identities and translocality, hybridity, borderlands, and the sociology of language and religion. I shall however be delighted to co-supervise research students interested in interdisciplinary research that involves discourses of identity.

Membership of Professional Bodies

- Member, International Advisory Board of the Centre for Multiple Languages and Literacies, Teachers College Columbia - since 2004.

- Member, editorial board, Lagos Review of English Studies (Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria) - since 2005.

- Member, editorial board of Sociolinguistic Studies - appointed 2006.

- Member, editorial board of the Journal of Language, Education and Identity from 2007.

- Member, editorial board of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language for 5 years from 2009.

- Member, Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College from January 2010.

- Reviewer for the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Canada).

- Appointed Ferguson Fellow, Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Open University, Milton Keynes, October 2006.

- Executive Committee of the British Association for Applied Linguistics, September 2006 - 2008.

- International Consultant, Religious Ideologies and Literacy Practices Project [1.1.2009 - 31.12.2011] National Institute of Education, Singapore [NIE ACRF REF R1/ 5/08 CGL]

Teaching Interests

I have held teaching positions in Africa, Asia and Europe over the last quarter of a century. However, my academic home since February 2000 has been on the English Language and Linguistics Programme at Roehampton where I teach these undergraduate modules: Language Issues in Multilingual Settings, Language in the Media, Child Discourse, Discourse and Conversation Analysis. I convene the Master of Research in Sociolinguistics and the MA in Applied Linguistics programmes as well as coordinate the MPhil/PhD programme.

Publications

Merit, Affirmative Action and Blackwash: A Discourse Practice in Minority Representation.London: Continuum, Books, forthcoming.
Sociolinguistics in Africa. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Co-authored with Nkonko Kamwangamalu and Sinfree Makoni, forthcoming. 
Contending with Globalisation in World Englishes. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2010 (Co-edited with Mukul Saxena).
The Sociology of Language and Religion: Change, Conflict and Accommodation. (ed.) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 
The Sociolinguistics of Identity. London: Continuum, 2008 (Co-edited with Goodith White).
Cultures of Economic Migration. London: Ashgate, 2007 (Co-edited with Suman Gupta).
Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co. 2006 (Co-edited with Joshua A. Fishman).
Nigeria and Globalization: Discourses on Identity Politics and Social Conflict. Lagos: CBAAC, 2004. (Co-edited with Duro Oni, Suman Gupta, Efurosibina Adegbija and Segun Awonusi). 
The Sociolinguistics of Borderland: Two Nations, One Community. Trenton: New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2004.
Islands and Identity in Sociolinguistics: Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, Special Issue 143,International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2000.
Introduction: Change, conflict and accommodation, in The Sociology of Language and Religion: Change Conflict and Accommodation, Tope Omoniyi (ed.), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; in press.
Holy Hip-Hop, language and social change, in The Sociology of Language and Religion: Change Conflict and Accommodation, ed. Tope Omoniyi. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; in press. 
Introduction, in Contending with Globalisation in World Englishes,. Mukul Saxena and Tope Omoniyi (eds.) Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd; in press.
Final Reflections, in Contending with Globalisation in World Englishes, eds. Mukul Saxena and Tope Omoniyi. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd; in press.
Writing in Englishes, in Routledge Handbook of World Englishes, ed. Andrew Kirkpatrick, London: Routledge; in press. 
Borders, in The Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity, eds. Ofelia Garcia and Joshua A. Fishman, Oxford University Press, 2010; pp 123-134
Language and postcolonial identities: An African perspective, in Language Identities, eds. Carmen Llamas and Dominic Watt, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010; pp 237-246
African city-scapes and schools: Imagining multilingual education, in Global Perspectives on Multilingualism, eds. Maria E. Torres-Guzmán and J. Gomez, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 2009; pp. 54-71.
"So I choose to do am Naija style": Hip-hop and postcolonial identities, in Global Linguistic Flows: Hip-Hop Cultures, Identities and the Politics of Language, eds. Ibrahim Awad, Alim, H. Samy and Alastair Pennycook, Routledge, 2009; pp. 113-135.
Inscribing the homeland in a new age, in Migration, Modern Nationalism and Nostalgia for the Homeland in the Age of Globalization, eds. Zhivko Ivanov and Milena Katsarska, Plovdiv: Plovdiv University Press, 2008; pp.27-57. 
Outsourcing and migrational anxieties in discourse perspectives, in Cultures of Economic Migration: International Perspectives, jointly edited with Suman Gupta, London: Ashgate, 2007; pp. 37-51
Hierarchy of identities, in The Sociolinguistics of Identity, jointly edited with G. White, London: Continuum Books, 2006; pp. 11-31.
Societal multilingualism and multifaithism: A sociology of language and religion perspective,in Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion, jointly edited with J. Fishman, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005; pp. 121-140. 
Outsourcing and the Reconstitution of Habitus and Field: A Sociolinguistic Perspective, inUrban Generations: Post-Colonial Cities, eds. D. Richards, T. Agoumy and T. Belghazi, Rabat: Faculty of Letters, Mohammed V University, 2005; pp. 399-409.
Language and ethnicity in West Africa, in A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English, eds. P. Poddar and J. Johnson, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005; pp. 287-291.
You be Naija, in Nigerian English: State of the Art, edited by M. Jibril, Ibadan: Mosuro Publishers, 2005.
The acquisition and use of English as a Second Language in Nigeria, in Nigerian English: Influences and Characteristics, Lagos: Concept Publications, edited by ABK Dadzie and Segun Awonusi, 2004; pp. 118-139. 
Identity Constructs in a Contested Borderland: The Bakassi Peninsula, with Oladipo Salami, inNigeria in the Age of Globalization: Contemporary Discourses and Texts, jointly edited with Duro Oni, Suman Gupta, Efurosibina Adegbija and Segun Awonusi, Lagos: CBAAC, 2004; pp. 171-193.
Culture and identity shifts in the era of globalization: digitalisation, diaspora, and other concerns, in India in the Age of Globalization: Contemporary Discourses and Texts, eds. Gupta, Suman, Tapan Basru, and Subarno Chattarji, Delhi: Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, 2003; pp. 353-398.
Language, education, citizenship, and refugees: When the shelter becomes home, inRethinking Refuge and Displacement: Selected Papers on Refugees and Immigrants (Vol. VIII), eds. E. Gozdziak and D. Shandy, Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association, 2000.
Island in Verse: Constructing Identity from Singaporean Poetry, in Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature: Poetry, edited by Kirpal Singh, Singapore: Ethos Book, 1999.
Afro-Asian Rural Border Areas, in Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity, edited by J. A. Fishman, New York: OUP, 1999; pp. 369-381.
Song-lashing' as a Communicative Strategy in Interpersonal Conflicts in Yorubaland: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal, in Language and Culture, eds. D. Graddol, L. Thompson and B. Byram Clevedon: BAAL & Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1993; pp. 123-132.
Variation in the Lexical Repertoires of Urban and Rural Users of English as a Second Language, in Concepts of the Ideal in English Studies, eds. T. Vincent and A.E. Eruvbetine, Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria, 1990; pp. 102-118.
Developing Listening and Note-taking Skills in EAP Programs, in Issues in Teaching Use of English in Nigeria, eds. P. Astill and A. Odejide, COMSKIP Publication Series No.1. Ibadan: Communications Skills Project (COMSKIP), 1990; pp. 55-73.
Indigenous language capital and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Tope Omoniyi (ed.), Language Issues in Development, special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language Mouton de Gruyter, forthcoming.
The sociolinguistics of colonization: A language shift perspective, in Herbert Igboanusi (ed.) Language Shift in West Africa, special issue of Sociolinguistic Studies 3 (3) 2010. 
Negotiating youth identities in a transnational context in Nigeria, in Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1, March 2009, 1–18 [with Suzan Scheld and Duro Oni
Negotiating youth identities in a transnational context in Nigeria, in Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1, March 2009, 1–18 [with Suzan Scheld and Duro Oni
Email fraud: language, technology and the indexicals of globalization, in Social SemioticsVolume 16, No. 4, 573-605, 2006 [with Jan Blommaert].
Hip-hop through the World Englishes lens: A Response to Globalization, in Kachru, J. and Lee, J. (eds.) World Englishes in Global Popular Cultures. Oxford: Blackwell, Volume 25, No. 2, 195-208, 2006b.
West African Englishes, in Kachru, B., Kachru, J. and Nelson, C. (eds.) Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.272-299, 2006a.
Towards a retheorization of code switching, in Makoni, S. and Canagarajah, S. (eds.) Challenging Ethnocentricism in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching: A Symposium. TESOL QuarterlyVol. 39, No. 4, pp.729-734, 2005.
Local policies and global forces: Multiliteracy through Africa's indigenous languages, inLanguage Policy 2: 2, pp133-152, 2003b.
Language Ideology and Politics: A Critical Appraisal of French as Second Official Language in Nigeria, in S. Makoni and U.H. Meinhof (Eds) Africa and Applied Linguistics, AILA REVIEW 16, pp13-25, 2003a.
Coming in From the Heat: Refugees and Citizenship Education in Britain, in The School FieldVolume XI, No. 1 & 2, pp41-58, 2000c. 
Native Holes and Alien Pegs: LAP/LSP as Tools in Immigrant and Refugee Children's Socialisation, in Baoill, Donall P. O. & Ruane, Mary (eds.) Integrating Theory and Practice in LSP and LAP, Teanga 19, Dublin: IRAAL & UCD, pp.61–73, 2000b.
Island Identities: A theoretical framework, in Tope Omoniyi (ed.) Islands and Identity in Sociolinguistics: Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, International Journal of the Sociology of Language Special Issue 143, pp1-13, 2000a.
Bilingualism, Biliteracy, Classrooms and Identity Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED434530 Chicago, IL: 1-20, 1999. 
My Blood, My Nation: Ethnicity and Nationality as Alternative and Hierarchical Identities in African Borderlands, in ITL Review of Applied Linguistics, Leuven, Belgium, Vol. 117-118, pp27-50, 1997.
One People, Two Nations: Language Choice and Identity in a Crossborder Speech Community,in COMCAP: Journal of Communication, Culture and Philosophy No. 1, pp1-19, 1996
'Song-lashing' as a Communicative Strategy in Interpersonal Conflicts in Yorubaland: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal, in TEXT: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse 15(2) Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp299-315, 1995. 
Culture and Pedagogy in Conflict: An Investigation of Student Participation in the Language Tutorial Classroom, in Chicago, IL: Central University, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 397 637, 1995.
Price-Tagging Child Bilingualism: An Evaluation of Policy and the Socio-economic and Political Implications of Commercialisation of Nursery Education in Nigeria, in Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED 365 160. Chicago, IL: Central University, 1-21, 1994.
English and the other Tongues in Official Communicative Interactions in Nigeria, in ITL Review of Applied Linguistics No 103–104. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 55–75, 1994. 
The Acquisition of Lexical Proficiency in English Usage: Cultural Diffusion and Variation in the Use of Kinship Terms and Address Forms in an ESL Context, in IFE Studies in English Language.Vol. 2, No. 2, 67–77, 1988.
The Market Value of Code Alternation and Switching: Socio-economic Implications of Aspects of Sociolinguistic Variation, in IFE Studies in English Language. Volume 1: Nos. 1–2, 45-54. Ile–Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University 1987.
1983. Review of Reynold S. Francis's Mixed Emotions. In Black Orpheus Vol. 5, No.1, University of Lagos Press 
2000b, The Island Within, A review of Fr. Colman O'Huallachain's The Irish and Irish: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Relationship between a People and their Language. Dublin: Assisi Press, 1994, 206pp. In Tope Omoniyi (ed.) Islands and Identity in Sociolinguistics: Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, International Journal of the Sociology of Language Special Issue 143, 189-195.
2005. Review of Martin Dent's Identity Politics: Filling the Gap between Federalism and Independence. In Democratization, Vol. 12, No. 4, 589-591.
2005. Review of Sinfree Makoni, Geneva Smitherman, Arnetha F. Ball & Arthur K. Spears (ed.) (2003).Black Linguistics: Language, society, and politics in Africa and the Americas. London & New York: Routledge. 228p. In Estudios de Sociolinguistica: Linguas, Sociedades e Culturas, now Sociolinguistic Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, pg. 123-127.
2008. Review of Simon Borg's (2006) Teacher Cognition. Educational Review.
2009. Commentary on Jan Blommaert's 'Language, asylum and national order' in Current Anthropology. Pg. 433-434. 
2010. Review of Jan Blommaert's Grassroots Literacy in Language in Society. Language in Society 39 (2)
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