About

My name is Lara Portmann and I recently completey my PhD in Language and Communication at the University of Bern, Switzerland. I use this blog to summarise sociolinguistic concepts and ideas that I’ve come across during my research.

My research interests include: language work/ers; critical sociolinguistics; language/semiotic ideologies; digital discourse studies; interface texts; cultural politics of technology; discourse ethnography; social semiotics

The language work of UX writers

My dissertation examined the language work of UX writers. The project focused on the “working life of language” by centring practitioners’ own reflexive understanding of their linguistic practices. This involves asking questions such as: How is language used to imagine and design users? How do UX professionals describe and make sense of their own (language) work and its consequences? How are such design practices connected to ideological structures of, for instance, class, gender, or race? The project was affiliated with the larger SNSF-funded (Swiss National Science Foundation) project “Elite Creativities”, led by Prof. Dr. Crispin Thurlow.

Want to know more? Email me at lara.portmann[at]discourse.ch.