Biography: 

I hold degrees from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (MA), the University of Durham (MA), and Queen Mary University of London (PhD). Before joining Mercator / the Fryske Akademy, I was an Eakin Fellow at McGill University in Montreal as well as working at the University of Birmingham and Liverpool Hope University. 

Research areas: 

I am a sociolinguist with a specialisation in multilingualism and language contact situations. My work focuses on three interrelated strands: (1) language attitudes, language ideologies and their influence on linguistic as well as social behaviour; (2) language policy and planning at the societal level; as well as (3) family language policy and intergenerational language transmission. I am interested in autochthonous as well as allochthonous minorities. 

Book:

Kircher, R. & Zipp, L. (eds.) (2022). Research Methods in Language Attitudes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108867788

Book chapters: 

Kircher, R. (forthcoming, 2023). Yiddish. In S. Fox (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 3rd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kircher, R. (2022). Questionnaires to elicit quantitative data. In R. Kircher & L. Zipp (eds.), Research Methods in Language Attitudes (pp. 129-144). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108867788.012

Kircher, R. & Hawkey, J. W. (2022). Mixed-methods approaches to the study of language attitudes. In R. Kircher & L. Zipp (eds.), Research Methods in Language Attitudes (pp. 330-345). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108867788.026

Kircher, R. & Zipp, L. (2022). An introduction to language attitudes research. In R. Kircher & L. Zipp (eds.), Research Methods in Language Attitudes (pp. 1-16). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108867788.002

Kircher, R. (2016). Montreal’s multilingual migrants: Social identities and language attitudes after the proposition of the Quebec Charter of Values. In V. Regan, C. Diskin, and J. Martyn, eds. Language, Identity and Migration: Voices from Transnational Speakers and Communities (pp. 217-247). Bern: Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1053435

Kircher, R. (2016). The matched-guise technique. In Zhu Hua, ed. Research Methods in Intercultural Communication (pp. 196-211). Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119166283.ch13

Kircher, R. (2014). Quebec’s shift from ethnic to civic national identity: Implications for language attitudes amongst immigrants in Montreal. In D. Evans, ed. Language and Identity: Discourse in the World (pp. 55-80). London: Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/language-and-identity-9780567338167/

Journal articles: 

Kircher, R. & Kutlu, E. (2023). Multilingual realities, monolingual ideologies: Social media representations of Spanish as a heritage language in the United States. Applied Linguistics, online ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac076 
(non-paywalled preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y54ru)  

Bayat, Z., Kircher, R., & Van de Velde, H. (2023). Minority language rights to education in international, regional, and domestic regulations and practices: The case of Frisians in the Netherlands. Current Issues in Language Planning, 24(8): 81-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2022.2037291 (open access) 

Kircher, R. (2022). Intergenerational language transmission in Quebec: Patterns and predictors in the light of provincial language planning. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(2): 418-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1691499

Kircher, R., Quirk, E., Brouillard, M., Ahooja, A., Ballinger, S., Polka, L., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2022). Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism: Evaluative dimensions and potential predictors. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 51(5): 527-552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X221078853 (open access)

Ahooja, A., Brouillard, M., Quirk, E., Ballinger, S., Polka, L., Byers-Heinlein, K., & Kircher, R. (2022). Family language policy among Québec-based parents raising multilingual infants and toddlers: A study of resources as a form of language management. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, online ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2050918
(non-paywalled preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/sa7h5)

Ballinger, S., Brouillard, M., Ahooja, A., Kircher, R., Polka, L., and Byers-Heinlein, K. (2022). Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 43(7): 614-628. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.1752699  
(non-paywalled preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/bjxm8) 

Fibla, L., Kosie, J. E., Kircher, R., Lew-Williams, C., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2022). Bilingual language development in infancy: What can we do to support bilingual families? Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9(1): 35-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/23727322211069312 (open access)

Schukking, A. F. & Kircher, R. (2022). Professional intercultural communicative competence and labour market integration among highly-educated refugees in the Netherlands. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(1): 31-56. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2021-0001 (open access)

Kircher, R. & Fox, S. (2021). Multicultural London English and its speakers: A corpus-informed discourse study of standard language ideology and social stereotypes. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 42(9): 792-810. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1666856

Kutlu, E. and Kircher, R. (2021). A corpus-assisted discourse study of attitudes toward Spanish as a heritage language in Florida. Languages, 6(1): 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010038 (open access)

Kuipers-Zandberg, H. and Kircher, R. (2020). The objective and subjective ethnolinguistic vitality of West Frisian: Promotion and perception of a minority language in the Netherlands. Sustainable Multilingualism, 17: 1-25. https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2020-0011 (open access)

Kircher, R. and Fox, S. (2019). Attitudes towards Multicultural London English: Implications for attitude theory and language planning. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(10): 847-864. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1577869

Kircher, R. (2016). Language attitudes among adolescents in Montreal: Potential lessons for language planning in Quebec. Nottingham French Studies: UK Perspectives on Francophone Canada, 55(2): 239-259. https://doi.org/10.3366/nfs.2016.0151
(non-paywalled preprint: https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/931)

Kircher, R. (2014). Thirty years after Bill 101: A contemporary perspective on attitudes towards English and French in Montreal. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17(1): 20-50. https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL/article/view/21582 (open access)

Kircher, R. (2012). How pluricentric is the French language? An investigation of attitudes towards Quebec French compared to European French. Journal of French Language Studies, 22(3): 345-370. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959269512000014

Preprints:

Kircher, R., Kutlu, E., & Vellinga, M. (under review). Linking language attitudes, ideologies, and revitalisation: Evidence from new speakers of West Frisian. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yuw6z 

Kircher, R., Kutlu, E., & Vellinga, M. (under review). Promoting minority language use to foster revitalisation: Insights from new speakers of West Frisian. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m6ej3

Quirk, E., Brouillard, M., Ahooja, A., Ballinger, S., Polka, L., Byers-Heinlein, K., & Kircher, R. (under review). Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/583ge

Quirk, E., Brouillard, M., Ahooja, A., Ballinger, S., Polka, L., Byers-Heinlein, K., & Kircher, R. (under review). A corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/udm6v 

Research-related blog posts: 

Fibla, L., Kosie, J. E., Kircher, R., Lew-Williams, C., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2022) Supporting bilingual families around the world. International Congress of Infant Studies – Baby Blog: https://bit.ly/FiblaKosieKircherLewWilliamsByersHeinleinICIS

Schukking, A. F. & Kircher, R. (2022) Helping refugees re-build their careers in a new country: On the benefits of teaching (and learning) professional intercultural communicative competence. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog: 
https://bit.ly/SchukkingKircherStrictlyLanguage

Kutlu, E. and Kircher, R. (2021). Corpus-assisted discourse studies: A useful way of investigating language attitudes in social media data? Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog.
https://bit.ly/KutluKircherStrictlyLanguage1

Scarse, Y. & Kircher, R. (2021). Minority language education in the spotlight: Mercator’s wiki on minority language learning. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog: https://bit.ly/ScarseKircherStrictlyLanguage

Kircher, R. (2020). Intergenerational language transmission and social identity. Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity – Langage, Identité, Diversité, Appartenance (BILD-LIDA) blog. http://bit.ly/RuthKircherBILD-LIDA  

Krol-Hage, R. and Kircher, R. (2020). Promoting minority language skills among migrants working in the healthcare sector. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog. https://bit.ly/KrolHageKircherStrictlyLanguage

Kuipers-Zandberg, H. and Kircher, R. (2020). ‘Are we in Fryslân yet?’ On the (in-)visibility of Frisian in the linguistic landscape of the northern Netherlands. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog. https://bit.ly/KuipersZandbergKircherStrictlyLanguage

Kircher, R. (2019). Language ideology in the time of Brexit. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog. http://bit.ly/RuthKircherStrictlyLanguage2

Kircher, R. (2019). Promoting social equality for speakers of non-standard language varieties. Strictly Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Attitudes and Language Ideologies blog. http://bit.ly/RuthKircherStrictlyLanguage1