Janet Holmes (born 17 May 1947) is a New Zealand

sociolinguist Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies under ...

. Her research interests include

language and gender Research into the many possible relationships, intersections and tensions between language and gender is diverse. This field crosses disciplinary boundaries, and, as a bare minimum, could be said to encompass work notionally housed within appli ...

, language in the workplace, and

New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...

Academic career

After obtaining an

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, Holmes moved to

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

in New Zealand, later becoming a naturalised New Zealander in 1975. She published a textbook ''Introduction to Sociolinguistics'' in 1992 which has run to five editions. She is a

Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

and won the Dame Joan Metge Medal in 2012. She is now an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Holmes has published widely on an array of topics. In 1996, she established the Wellington Language in the Workplace (LWP) project, which is an ongoing study of communication formats occurring in the workplace, which examines “small talk, humour, management strategies, directives, and leadership in a wide range of New Zealand workplaces”. Holmes has been featured on the media, such as the

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

and newspapers. Topics she talked about included the way people communicate at work, how complicated the phenomenon of sexist language is, the pitfalls and possibilities of cross-cultural communication in the workplace, or whether men or women talk more.

Recognition

In recognition of Holmes' contributions to the field of Sociolinguistics, ''Linguist at Work: Festschrift for Janet Holmes'' brings together works by Holmes's colleagues, students, collaborators, and friends which present new ideas and analysis within the field. In the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Holmes was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have r ...

for services to linguistics. In 2017, Holmes was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "

150 women in 150 words The "150 women in 150 words" project was undertaken by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and published during their 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017. The aim of the project was "celebrating women's contributions to expanding knowledge in New Z ...

", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand. In July 2019, Holmes was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

Publications

* 2017 Holmes, Janet and Nick Wilson ''An Introduction to Sociolinguistics''. (5th edition). London: Pearson. * 2015 Holmes, Janet and Maria Stubbe (2nd edition) ''Power and Politeness in the Workplace''. London and New York: Routledge. * 2014 Holmes, Janet and Kirk Hazen (eds.) ''Research Methods in Sociolinguistics'': A Practical Guide. Oxford/Malden MA: Wiley Blackwell. * 2014 Ehrlich, Susan, Miriam Meyerhoff and Janet Holmes (eds.) ''The Handbook of Language, Gender and Sexuality''. Oxford/Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. * 2013 Holmes, Janet. ''An Introduction to Sociolinguistics''. Fourth Edition. London: Pearson. * 2011 Holmes, Janet, Meredith Marra and Bernadette Vine ''Leadership, Discourse and Ethnicity.'' Oxford University Press. * 2011 Laurie Bauer, Dianne Bardsley, Janet Holmes and Paul Warren ''Q and Eh: Questions and Answer on Language with a Kiwi Twist.'' * Holmes, J. (2008). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (3rd ed.). Pearson Longman, Harlow, England * 2006 Holmes, Janet ''Gendered Talk at Work: Constructing Gender Identity through Workplace Discourse''. New York, Oxford: Blackwell. * 2006 Laurie Bauer, Janet Holmes and Paul Warren. ''Language Matters''. Palgrave Macmillan. * 2003 Holmes, Janet and Maria Stubbe. ''Power and Politeness in the Workplace: a Sociolinguistic Analysis of Talk at Work''. London: Pearson. * 2002. Holmes, J. and M. Marra. "Having a laugh at work: How humour contributes to workplace culture," ''Journal of pragmatics,34(12):'' 1683–1710 * 2000 Editor. ''Gendered Speech in Social Context:'' Perspectives from Gown and Town. Wellington: Victoria University Press. * 1995. Holmes, Janet. ''Women, Men and Politeness.'' Harlow: Addison, Wesley, Longman. *1988. Holmes, Janet. "Paying compliments: A sex-preferential politeness strategy," ''Journal of Pragmatics.'' 12(4): 445–465. *1984. Holmes, Janet. "Modifying illocutionary force," Journal of Pragmatics. 8(3): 345–365.

References

External links

*
LinkedIn

Victoria University of Wellington homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Janet 1947 births Women linguists Living people New Zealand writers New Zealand women writers New Zealand women academics Alumni of the University of Leeds Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington Sociolinguists Linguists from New Zealand Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Academics from Liverpool English emigrants to New Zealand Naturalised citizens of New Zealand