Dr. Sally Boyd

Biography

Sally Boyd is a Professor Emerita of General Linguistics at the University of Gothenburg. Her research focuses on language contact and multilingualism from a sociolinguistic perspective. In recent years, she has investigated attitudes towards the Swedish spoken accent and language policies concerning language use among young people in Sweden's multilingual suburbs. Boyd has led a number of externally funded projects on language contact in Sweden and the Nordic region. She served as an associate professor from 1992 and as a research associate at the Center for Research on Immigration and Ethnic Relations at Stockholm University from 1990 to 1994. In her teaching, she has primarily focused on courses related to general linguistics at the graduate level, encompassing fields such as speech pathology and bilingual education. Boyd has supervised several graduate students successfully through their dissertation defenses. During her tenure as dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2007 to 2009, she managed significant changes within the faculty, moving towards a more professional administration of fewer, larger departments that fostered interdisciplinary cooperation. Sally Boyd earned her doctorate in general linguistics from the University of Gothenburg in 1988, after completing her graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a research assistant for William Labov’s project. She also holds a Master's degree in education from Temple University and a bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College.

Research Interests