Dr Richard Ashdowne

I teach undergraduates in linguistics or classical languages. 

I am interested in all aspects of how languages work and change. The focus of my research has been on Latin and the Romance languages, and I have particular interests in lexical semantics (the meanings of words) and pragmatics (the use of language in context).

Earlier in my career I spent six years as a lexicographer of British medieval Latin. I have written about the process of lexicography in various publications and I am on the advisory board for the Anglo-Norman Dictionary project. I still retain a strong interest in the use of the Latin language in the medieval period in Britain and its relationship to the other languages of the British Isles, most recently investigating how medieval Latin texts may preserve the oldest or even only evidence for items of English vocabulary.