An investigation into the way a child’s language develops over y to x  months. Have you got any younger siblings or nieces or nephews you could record? If you want to look at the written language of children perhaps you could dig out your old school books or contact a local school. If you choose this type of area to study you will need to collect your primary data early in order to give you time to analyse it.  

An investigation into the range of linguistic skills in X to Y year olds.

An investigation into changes in accent/dialect in a chosen area – Pick old/young speakers from the same area (record them, transcribe them).

An investigation into links between different accents and dialects in the North/or South – record different speakers. Have you got relatives / friends in a different part of the country you could study?

An investigation into the impact of first language on the variety of English spoken by ESL speakers. Record speakers whose first language is not English (e.g. teachers at Franklin, exchange students, pen pals).

An investigation into the differences between male/female language in college students. Make transcriptions of dialogue.

An investigation into the techniques of persuasion used in adverts (old/new? gender? products?)

An investigation into the language of death, for example of obituaries / memorials / headstones.

An investigation into the ways language of news reporting has changed over X years.

An investigation into the use of rhetoric in political speeches.

An analysis of the ways language is used in different ways according to context e.g. same story as:

• News items
• Editorial
• Letter to paper
• TV discussion

An investigation into the language of love – letters/diaries/blogs/emails/texts/tweets (can be old/new).

An investigation into the language of problem pages – techniques for giving guidance (and asking questions) different according to different sources or targeted gender (newspaper/ blogs/ magazines/ old??)

An investigation into language of power relationships e.g. Boss at part time job.

An investigation into the gendered language of rap lyrics.