Laura Hekanaho

My PhD explores English third person singular pronouns from a sociolinguistic perspective. What do pronouns mean to gender identity, and how do people feel about pronouns? The focus is on both generic (he, she, he or she, singular they) and nonbinary pronouns (such as they, ze and xe), i.e. pronouns that can be used to refer to someone who is not (exclusively) female or male and does not wish to be referred to as a he or she.

My research interests include language and gender, language attitudes, language and identity, online communities, mixed methods research, and survey research. I have been teaching courses on language and gender and survey research, as well as organizing a writing workshop course for MA level students working on their theses.

My pronouns are: she/her.

2008-2012                          BA, German Philology, University of Helsinki

2012-2015                          MA, English Philology, University of Helsinki

2016-2020                          PhD, Language Studies, University of Helsinki

2021-2022                        Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä

2018-2021                        Hourly paid teacher at the University of Helsinki

2019 Fall                           Assistant teacher at the University of Helsinki

2019                                 Grant researcher, funded by the Jutikkala Fund

07/2017-12/2018              Salaried doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki

2017 Fall                            Assistant teacher at the University of Helsinki

2017 May                           Assistant teacher at the University of Helsinki

2015 April-May                  Research assistant at project DYLAPS