Shane Walshe is a Lektor at the English Department.

He studied English and German at the National University of Ireland, Galway and received his PhD in English Linguistics from the University of Bamberg, Germany. He has taught at the universities of Bamberg, Bern and Zurich. 

He has published in both the fields of English Linguistics and Irish Studies. His interests include varieties of English, literary dialect, perceptual dialectology and stylistics, as well as the representation of the Irish in film, television, comics and jokes. 

• "Salience and Stereotypes: The Construction of Irish Identity in Irish Jokes." Irish Identities. Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Eds. Carolina P. Amador Moreno and Raymond Hickey. Mouton de Gruyter. (forthcoming)

• “Pardon My French … and German … and Spanish …: (Mis)speaking in Tongues in Marvel Comics.” The Language of Pop Culture. Ed. Valentin Werner. Routledge, 2018. 49-71.

• “Forced Perspective: Seeing Ulysses through the Eyes of Joseph Strick and Sean Walsh.” Parallaxing Joyce. Eds. Penelope Paparunas, Frances Ilmberger and Martin Heusser. Narr Francke Attempto, 2017. 190-211.

• “Treading the Boards? Be Sure to Put On the Right Brogues.” National Identities and Imperfections in Contemporary Irish Literature: Unbecoming Irishness.Ed. Luz Mar González Arias. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 201-217.

• “The Language of Irish Films.” World Englishes 36:2 Special Issue: Irish English. Eds. Raymond Hickey and Elaine Vaughan. 2017. 283-299.

• “Irish Society as Portrayed in Irish Films.” Sociolinguistics in Ireland. Ed. Raymond Hickey. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 320-343.

• “‘Irish Accents Drive Me Nuts.’ The Representation of Irish Speech in DC Comics. Ireland and Its Contacts – L’Irlande et ses contacts. Ed. Patricia Ronan. Université de Lausanne: Centre Linguistique, 2013. 91-120.

• “Ah, Laddie, Did Ye Really Think I’d Let a Foine Broth of a Boy Such As Yerself Get Splattered ...?” – Representations of Irish English Speech in the Marvel Universe. Linguistics and the Study of Comics. Ed. Frank Bramlett. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 264-290.

• “‘Normal People Like Us Don’t Use That Type of Language. Remember This Is the Real World.’ – The Language of Father Ted: Examining Realism in a Fictional World.” Sociolinguistic Issues: Special Issue: Fictionalising Orality. Eds. Carolina Amador Moreno and Kevin McCafferty. 2012. 127-148.

• “Dialect Handbooks and the Acquisition of Stage Accents – A Critical Study.” Issues in Accents of English 2: Variability and Norm. Ed. Ewa Waniek-Klimczak. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 97-114.

• “What about the Celtic Tiger Economy Boom Thing?” The Changing Face of Ireland in the Film When Brendan Met Trudy.” In the Wake of the Tiger: Irish Studies in the Twenty-First Century. Eds. David Clark and Rubén Jarazo Álvarez. Netbiblo, 2010. 141-156.

• Irish English as Represented in Film. Peter Lang, 2009.

• “The (Perceived) Authenticity of Irish Accent in Film.” Current Issues in Unity and Diversity of Languages. Collection of the Papers Selected from the CIL 18 (18th International Congress of Linguists), Seoul, South Korea, July 21- 26, 2008. (CD-Rom). 2011-2028.

• “Ireland and Globalisation: Closer to Boston Than Berlin.” Guest lecture with Ambassador Breifne O’Reilly, as part of the Anglosphere lecture series. Zurich. Nov. 29, 2017.

• “Investigating Language in Fiction.” Guest lecture at the University of Extremadura. Dec. 19, 2016.

• “Filmspeak: A Linguist Goes to the Movies.” Guest lecture at the University of Bern. March 15, 2016.

• “Have You Heard the One about Indexicality in Irish Jokes?” New Perspectives on Irish English 4. Bergen. July 18-19, 2016.

• “Salience, Stereotypes and Enregisterment. The Construction of Irish Identity in Irish Jokes.” Sociolinguistics Symposium 21. Murcia. June 15-18, 2016.

• “Medieval Irish Heroes in New Contexts: Their Adaptation in American Comics.” 15th International Congress of Celtic Studies. Glasgow.  July 13-17, 2015.

• “Northern versus Southern Irish English: A Cinematic Corpus-Based Approach.” New Perspectives on Irish English 3. Limerick. June 18-19, 2015.

• “The Wearing of the Green. A Multimodal Analysis of Irish Superheroes in American Comics.” 3rd Irish Studies Symposium. Heroes. Lausanne. Oct. 17, 2014.   

• “Brogues and Blarney and Forty Shades of Green. Representations of Ireland and the Irish in American Comics.” 12th AEDEI International Conference. Voice and Discourse in the Irish Context. Caceres. May 31, 2013.

• “Alternative Ulster. Representations of ‘The Troubles’ in American Comics.” 11th AEDEI International Conference. Words of Crisis, Crises of Words. Ireland and the Representation of Critical Times. Huelva. May 31, 2012.

• “Ticking the Boxes: A Hollywood View of Ireland and the Irish.” 2nd Irish Studies Symposium, Lausanne. Apr. 20, 2012.

• "Filming the Unfilmable: Cinematic Joyce." Guest lecture at the Zurich James Joyce Foundation. Apr. 19, 2012.

• “Voices from the Oul Sod: Representations of Irish Speech in the DC Universe.” 1st International Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels: Sites of Visual and Textual Innovation. Instituto Franklin, Alcalá de Henares. Nov. 9 -12, 2011. 

• “Pardon My French…and German…and Irish: (Mis)speaking in Tongues in Marvel Comics.” International Workshop, Interdisciplinary Methodology: The Case of Comic Studies. Bern. Oct. 14-15, 2011.

• “Treading the Boards? Be Sure to Put on the Right Brogues – The Actor’s Search for the Perfect Irish Accent.” 10th AEDEI International Conference. (Un)Becoming Irishness: Imperfections and National Identities. Oviedo. May 25-28, 2011.

• "Portrayals of Irish Speech in American Cartoons and Comics." Guest lecture at the University of Bamberg. Dec. 13, 2010.

• “‘Begorrah! Oi Dinnae Tink Dey Ken the Differ’ – Brogues and Burrs in Marvel Comics.” 8th Annual NEICN Conference. “Kilt by Kelt Shell Kithagain with Kinagain”: Ireland and Scotland. Sunderland. Nov. 12-14, 2010.

• “‘Ah, Laddie, Did Ye Really Think I’d Let a Foine Broth of a Boy Such As Yerself Get Splattered ...?’ – Representations of Irish English Speech in the Marvel Universe.” 1st Irish Studies Symposium, Lausanne. June 4, 2010.

• “Folk Perceptions of Irishness: Separating the Irish from the ‘Oirish’.” New Perspectives on Irish English, Dublin. Mar. 11-13, 2010.

• “‘So, It’s Our Syntax You’re Criticizin’ Then?’– Irish English Speech in The Simpsonsand Family Guy.” Myth and Reality: Language, Literature and Culture in Modern Ireland, Dalarna, Oct. 29-30, 2009.

• “‘What about the Celtic Tiger Economy Boom Thing?’ The Changing Face of Ireland in the Film When Brendan Met Trudy.” 7th Annual AEDEI Conference. Rocky Road to Ireland: Irish Studies in the Wakeof the Tiger, La Coruña, May 28-31, 2008.

Linguistics Seminars

Introduction to Linguistics                     

Phonetics and Phonology                    

Irish English                                         

Scottish English                                    

Literary Dialect                                      

Perceptual Dialectology                      

Stylistics 

Lectures

Irish Film                                              

Irish Culture: From the Celts to the Celtic Tiger

Comics and American Culture

Academic Writing and Cultural Studies

Writing Skills and Cultural Studies

Creative Writing

Writing Skills and Popular Culture