Department of Modern English Language and Linguistics
Dr Abigail Mensah-King joined Bede University in 2025 following the completion of her doctoral research into vowel restructuring in Ghanaian English. Her research interests include sociophonetics, World Englishes and the relationship between phonetic variation and speaker identity. Her first monograph, The Sounds of the Outer Circle: Phonetics in Africa (2025), examines patterns of linguistic variation in Ghanaian English. She is currently developing several further publications arising from this research.
Teaching
MELL101 Introduction to Linguistics
MELL102: Introduction to Phonetics
MELL201: Further Phonetics
MELL302: Advanced Phonetics
Publications
- Mensah-King, A. (2025) The Sounds of the Outer Circle: Phonetics in Africa. Purple Moon Press: Basingstoke.
Under review
- Mensah-King, A. (under review) Vowel restructuring in contemporary Ghanaian English: Evidence from a small-scale acoustic study. World Varieties of English.
- Mensah-King, A. (under review) Phonetic variation and speaker identity in urban Ghanaian English: Preliminary observations. English in Global Contexts.
In preparation
- Mensah-King, A. (in preparation) Towards a sociophonetic account of vowel variation in Ghanaian English.
The story behind the cover
My first monograph, The Sounds of the Outer Circle: Phonetics in Africa, grew out of my doctoral research on vowel restructuring in Ghana. It was published in hardback and subsequently attracted the attention of the BANAL Prize committee.
The original title of my thesis was Vowel Restructuring in Ghana, which I felt accurately described the book's subject matter. My publishers were keen to give it a broader appeal, however, and initially wanted to call it African Phonetics, which I felt was over-promising to readers what the book was about. After quite a bit of to and fro, I eventually agreed on The Sounds of the Outer Circle: Phonetics in Africa, although I should clarify that the book is primarily concerned with Ghana.
I had also hoped to use a photograph taken by my uncle at Mokola Market, showing a group of women in conversation. I thought it captured something of the everyday interactions that made the research so rewarding. However, the publishers preferred a more abstract design, which they felt would better reflect the book's academic character. I guess you can be the judge.
I've included both versions here, as I still have a soft spot for the original.
The book is available from the publisher, priced at £90.