Country of residence

United Kingdom

Brief introduction

Professor of Linguistics, University of Manchester

Education

Dr.Phil. Linguistics. 1993. University of Hamburg.

Academic profile

My main research interest is the linguistics of Romani, including the history of the language and its dialect continuum, but also sociolinguistic aspects such as codification and language policy. I also have an interest in the Romani political movement, Romani nationalism, and east-west migrations. As editor of the journal Romani Studies since 1999 I have an interest in cross-disciplinary research and especially the interface of language, ethnography, history and politics. I have served as consultant to Romani NGOs and to the Council of Europe on issues of migration as well as language policy, and my research work on language has led to the production of various pedagogical tools to help raise awareness of the Romani language, including audio-visual productions and a comprehensive website with a comparative database of Romani dialects. My topics of research includes linguistic features of non-Romani, travelling populations such as Jenisch and others; I have also carried out extensive research among the Domari-speaking community in the Middle East.

Publications

• Matras, Y. 2002. Romani: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Matras, Y. & Elsik, V. 2006. Markedness and language change: The Romani sample. Berlin: Mouton.
• Matras, Y. 2010. Romani in Britain. The afterlife of a language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Keywords

Linguistics, politics, ethnography

Contact

yaron.matras@manchester.ac.uk browse members list