Language and Linguistic Science

Tertulia de Literatura y Cine: El Hospital

This event is organised by the ‘Tertulia de Literatura y Cine’ series run by María Muradás-Taylor (Lecturer in Spanish) at the Department of Language and Linguistic Science. During the Tertulia, participants take part in a guided discussion in Spanish about social, historical and political aspects of the Spanish speaking world through literature and films, with the occasional guest speaker

Achieving best evidence? Reflections on the cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses in criminal trials in the UK and Ireland

Increasingly, governments around the world have introduced a range of special or alternative measures as a tool to facilitate vulnerable witnesses giving their ‘best evidence' (Hayes & Bunting, 2013). Some of the most prominent examples include the use of screens, the removal of wigs/gowns, live video-link, pre-recorded evidence and intermediaries who facilitate communication with a witness or a defendant.

The waitress that the customer served: Disentangling two accounts of verb processing when nouns have unexpected thematic roles

The N400 brain potential is usually large at unexpected words in a sentence. The N400 semantic illusion arises in sentences such as “the waitress that the customer served”, where the N400 at “served” is small despite it being unexpected that a customer would serve a waitress.