Prof Thora Tenbrink

Professor in Linguistics / Director of College Research Institute

t.tenbrink@bangor.ac.uk

+44 1248 382263

0000-0002-7986-1254

Prof Thora Tenbrink

View Prof Thora Tenbrink’s profile on the Bangor Research Portal

I joined Bangor University in September 2012 after having spent ten years as a research scientist at the Faculty of Linguistics at the University of Bremen, Germany. During this time I completed my PhD thesis, which was published in 2007 as the monograph "Space, Time, and the Use of Language" by Mouton de Gruyter. My most recent monograph is "Cognitive Discourse Analysis: An Introduction" (Cambridge University Press, 2020).

I furthermore edited a Special Issue on "The Language of Space and Time" in the Journal of Pragmatics (2011), and co-edited "Spatial Language and Dialogue" (Oxford University Press, 2009), "Representing Space in Cognition" (Oxford University Press, 2013), and "Spatial Information Theory. 11th International Conference, COSIT 2013" (Springer).

I was principal investigator in two recently concluded projects in the Collaborative Research Center SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition (Bremen/Freiburg, Germany). I have always enjoyed interdisciplinary and international collaboration, typically within areas of cognitive science, and am currently working with cognitive psychologists at Tufts University (Boston), UCL London, and the ETH Zurich.

At Bangor, I am a member of the MPC Network for the Study of Media and Persuasive Communication. Currently I am involved in one AHRC funded project on mask wearing and in SellSTEM, an international network of collaborative research led by Dublin. Also I have founded the Bangor University wide research group Places of Climate Change.

Thora Tenbrink is Director of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Business Research Institute.

Email: t.tenbrink@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)1248 38 2263

Location:

Room 306, 39 College Road,

Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, UK

  • DPhil: Localising objects and events: Discoursal applicability conditions for spatiotemporal expressions in English and German
    Bremen University, 2005

I have taught modules across many areas of Linguistics as well as some in Cognitive Science. 

Within Linguistics, my main current teaching focus is related to methodology, in particular concerning the use of language but also spanning other fields. This comprises Functions of Discourse (which introduces discourse analysis on the basis of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar), Cognitive Discourse Analysis, Research Methods in Linguistics, and Language and Communication. My teaching covers fundamental areas in Linguistics (e.g., in Foundations of Linguistics) but also draws on wider insights from Cognitive Science.

I am happy to supervise postgraduate projects in all of the areas mentioned above, in particular those that employ discourse analysis and/or address topics in areas of cognitive linguistics, communication, functional grammar, and more - just get in touch to explore!

I'm interested in how we use language, and what this tells us about our thoughts (concepts and thought processes). For this purpose I developed an empirical method, Cognitive Discourse Analysis (CODA: Tenbrink, 2015, and 2020, Cambridge University Press). Typically this means giving speakers a particular task to do in which they express their thoughts in some way, and record what they say in response. The linguistic data are then analysed by looking in detail at how language is used to express thoughts. Insights can be related to previous research on how language relates to thought - for example from theoretical cognitive linguistics or other related fields.

Much of my research has focused on how we understand and talk about our spatial environments, for instance when we try to find our way to a destination, or explain how to find an office in a complex building. More recently my focus has turned to notions of place (rather than space): how do we express in language what places mean to us, how do we relate to them, and in what ways might this be affected by the effects of (or mitigations against) climate change?  

For more information, please consult my website, knirb.net. 

I welcome enquiries from students interested in pursuing a PhD related to cognitive discourse analysis and communication.

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2018

  • PublishedCued by what we see and hear: Spatial reference frame use in language
    Coventry, K. R., Andonova, E., Tenbrink, T., Gudde, H. & Engelhardt, P., 13 Aug 2018, In: Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition. 9, 1287.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedDynamic strategy selection in collaborative spatial tasks
    Galati, A., Panagiotou, E., Tenbrink, T. & Avraamides, M. N., Aug 2018, In: Discourse Processes. 55, 8, p. 643-665
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedFictive Motion in the Context of Mountaineering
    Egorova, E., Tenbrink, T. & Purves, R. S., 2018, In: Spatial Cognition and Computation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 18, 4, p. 259-284
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedNatural language and geography
    Tenbrink, T., 27 Apr 2018, Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Geography. Montello, D. (ed.). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review
  • PublishedObject orientation in dialogue: A case study of spatial inference processes
    Schole, G., Tenbrink, T., Andonova, E. & Coventry, K. R., 2018, Spatial Cognition XI : 11th International Conference, Spatial Cognition 2018, Tübingen, Germany, September 5-8, 2018, Proceedings. Creem-Regehr, S., Schöning, J. & Klippel, A. (eds.). Springer, p. 92-106 (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence; vol. 11034).
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
  • PublishedSculptors, architects, and painters conceive of depicted spaces differently
    Cialone, C., Tenbrink, T. & Spiers, H., Mar 2018, In: Cognitive Science. 42, 2, p. 524-553
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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2012

  • PublishedSpatial directionals for robot navigation
    Winterboer, A., Tenbrink, T., Moratz, R., Dimitrova-Vulchanova, M. (ed.) & Zee, E. V. (ed.), 29 Nov 2012, Motion Encoding in Language and Space. Oxford University Press, p. 84-101
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
  • PublishedThe Role of Structure and Function in the Conceptualization of Directions
    Klippel, A., Tenbrink, T., Montello, D. & Dimitrova-Vulchanova, M. Z. (ed.), 29 Nov 2012, Motion Encoding in Language and Space. Oxford University Press, p. 102-120
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
  • PublishedVisual versus verbal location information on the iPhone
    Juhasz, O. E., Tenbrink, T. & Grueter, B., 20 Apr 2012, In: Kunestliche Intelligenz. 26, 2, p. 183-186
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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2015

EU Project: Enhancing spatial ability to help close the gender gap in STEM Press release

Consortium member of EU project 956124: SellSTEM, EU H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020 Consortium initiated by Dr. Gavin Duffy, Dublin. Title: Spatial thinking in STEM learning: Training a new generation of researchers to increase enrolment and gender balance in STEM learning by addressing deficits in spatial ability among children in Europe. Duration: January 2021 - December 2024.