ELAP Alumni

Former PhD student: Pete Budd

Pete Budd and the Bierebo Language Committee

I enrolled on the inaugural MA in Language Documentation and Description in 2003-4 and was easily persuaded to sign up for a PhD in Field Linguistics the following year. My doctoral research took me to Vanuatu to work on Bierebo, a previously undocumented language of Epi island. My time spent living there during fieldtrips in a small village was an unforgettable experience. From an endangered languages perspective it was uplifting to observe the vibrant, though precariously small, speech communities, and really rewarding to collaborate with speakers on developing an orthography and producing the first Bierebo written materials.

After completing my PhD I initially tried to find an academic post but have since returned to EFL (English as a foreign language) activities, teaching English for Academic Purposes and Academic Writing at various London universities. I have also started working as a test writer for the UEL Global Examinations Board. My Linguistics background has proved very valuable for all of this, as have the teaching assistantships I held with ELAP during my PhD.

Having put post-doctoral plans on hold for now, I am still trying to devote some time to Linguistics by writing academic papers. I know at some point, perhaps when my two young children are a bit older, that I’ll return to Epi, since I’d like to expand my thesis on Bierebo into a publishable grammar and look at further Bierebo language support initiatives.