Dr Daria Izdebska
SENIOR LECTURER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
School of Humanities
0151 291 3542
izdebsd@hope.ac.uk
Short Biography
I was born in Kraków, Poland, and from a very early age I have been fascinated by language, in particular the origins and history of words. I studied for my combined undergraduate and master’s degree at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, taking an interdisciplinary course that covered English language and linguistics, literature, history, and culture, as well as aspects of religious studies. I focus on all these areas in both my teaching and research.
I then moved to Scotland for a PhD in English Language and Linguistics, with a specialism in Old English at the University of Glasgow. I spent the next seven years there… and eventually acquired a Scottish accent, as well as a love for Historical European Martial Arts. You can often see me around with swords.
I’ve also been keen to explore ways in which we can apply modern digital technologies to the study of the historical stages of language, bringing the old and the new together. I bring these interests into my classroom, giving students opportunities to engage in complex data analysis and production of their own websites, helping them gain valuable employability skills.
Teaching Specialisms:
- History of the English language (particularly Old English)
- Corpus linguistics and Digital Humanities
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
- Language and emotions
- Historical semantics
- The military arts in Medieval and Early Modern periods
I welcome proposals for PhD study in any of the above disciplines, but particularly history of English and corpus linguistics.
School/Faculty Roles:
Subject Lead for Foundation Year in Humanities
School Health and Safety Co-ordinator
Recent Publications and Projects:
Wes Hal! A Living Language Approach to Old English – an ongoing collaborative project which aims to create a textbook for learning Old English using communicative and conversational approaches.
Conceptualising ANGER in the Old English Pastoral Care – this chapter explores how the Old English translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care shows a unique understanding of anger in Old English as a powerful force that oppresses and assaults the mind and can never be fully restrained.
Weapon-boys and Once-maidens: A Study of Old English Vocabulary for the Stages of Life – this chapter explores the Old English terms for infancy, youth, adulthood and old age, and compares them with their Latin equivalents. It sketches a complex socio-cultural view that at its heart makes a strong distinction between youth and maturity.
Repenting in their own words: Old English vocabulary for compunction, contrition and penitence – we often think of certain emotions, like regret, as universal, but this chapter argues that in Old English this emotion didn’t exist and was subsumed under general sadness. It was only with the introduction of Christianity and its concepts of compunction and contrition that Old English developed regret.
Metaphors for Weapons and Armour Through Time – drawing on the findings of the Mapping Metaphor project, this chapter explores metaphors for weapons and armour, showing how technological advancement and changes in the methods of waging war shaped the metaphors historically.
The Curious Case of TORN: The Importance of Lexical-Semantic Approaches to the Study of Emotions in Old English – this chapter argues for the importance of understanding a culture’s emotions on their own terms by looking closely at the words for emotions and their complex meanings.