Fae Hicks

  • Linguistics and English Language
  • School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Dugald Stewart Building

City
3 Charles Street, Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9AD

Biography

Background

I am a second year PhD student working on historical syntax and phonology, specifically their interaction at points of linguistic change.  I am investigating the link between 'phonetic erosion' and grammaticalisation to determine whether a. 'phonetic erosion' can be considered a unified phonological or historical process and b. there can be said to be a causative link between 'erosion' and grammaticalisation, and if so, in which direction. To do I am comparing the specific developments that occur in a number of instances of so called 'erosion' from the histories of Romance and Germanic.

I am particularly interested in the intersection between theoretical and historical linguistics and, along with another PhD student, founded a workshop to promote such discussion. The first Edinburgh Theoretical Historical Linguistics (ETHL) seminar ran this April and we hope to make it an annual event!

Alongside my PhD, I am working as researcher for the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities investigating attitudes to interdisciplinary research (IDR) and consulting on strategies to improve IDR training with PhD studentships.  Previously I was a research assistant at Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia working on the ERC project "Parameter theory on historical corpora: measuring the power of parameter setting theory on historical corpora" where my focus was the development of syntax from Old to Late Latin. 

CV

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Qualifications

  • MA(by research) Linguistics, minor corrections, University of York (2023) 
  • BA(Hons) Linguistics, 1st Class, University of York (2022) 

Responsibilities & affiliations

Secretary, Linguistics Association of Great Britain Postgraduate Student Committee, February 2025 - 

Co-Founder and Chair, Edinburgh Theoretical Historical Linguistics Seminar, September 2024 - 

Chair, Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, October 2023 - 

Assistant Editor, York Papers in Linguistics, 2022 - 23 

Undergraduate teaching

Guest Lecturing

  • Historical Linguistics (2025) 

Tutoring 

  • LEL1B: Linguistics and English Language 1B (2023)
  • LEL2A: Linguistic Theory and the Structure of English (2023, 2024)
  • LEL2C: English in Time and Space (2024)
  • PPLS Skills Centre: one-to-one academic writing support (2024) 

 

Research summary

Theoretical historical linguistics, historical phonology, historical syntax, and phonology. 

Current research interests

Broadly I am interested in the actuation problem and more specifically in diachronic change at the syntax-phonology interface. I am also interested in the philosophy of (historical) linguistics, particularly considering the role of theory in historical linguistics and of historical linguistics in linguistic theory. In my PhD, I am investigating whether there can be said to be a causal link between 'phonetic erosion' and grammaticalisation using evidence from four case studies of changes that occurred in English between the Old and Middle periods and the development of early Romance varieties from Latin. My research focuses on whether causative links between changes in syntax and changes in phonology can be drawn and indeed what it means for one change to cause another.

Past research interests

My MA by research focused on the development of Latin syntax between the Classic and Late periods using the novel Parametric Comparative Method.

Organiser

 

Co-Founder and Chair 

Chair

Organising Committee

Papers delivered

Hicks, F. and Honeybone, P. (2025). The Myth of Phonetic Erosion: Grammaticalisation, Causality, Phonology and Syntax. International Conference of Historical Linguistics. Santiago, 18th -23rd August

Bertollo, S. Crisma, P., Gaurdiano, C., Hicks, F., Madaro, R., Sanfelici, E., Silvestri, G. (2025) The noun on the move: Rethinking N-raising from Latin to Modern Italian. Diachronic Generative Syntax. Oxford, 23rd – 26th June. Poster presentation.

Hicks, F. (2025). Is ‘phonetic erosion’ a phonological concept? Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference. Edinburgh, 4th – 6th June.

Hicks, F. (2025) ‘Phonetic erosion: metalanguage and causality. North American Phonology Conference. Montreal, 9th – 10th May.

Hicks, F. Is ‘phonetic erosion’ a phonological concept? Manchester Phonology Meeting. Manchester, 29th – 31st May. Poster presentation.

Hicks, F. (2024). All Data is Bad Data: The Role of Historical Data in Syntax and Phonology. Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of Great Britain. Newcastle, 28th -30th August

Hicks, F. (2024). All Data is Bad Data: The Role of Historical Data in Syntax and Phonology. Naxos Summer School on Diachronic Linguistics, Naxos, 25th -31st July

Hicks, F. (2024). All Data is Bad Data: Modelling Grammar from Learner to Linguist. 79th Language Lunch, Edinburgh, 4thApril. Poster presentation.

Hicks, F. (2023). Using the Parametric Comparison Method: A Case Study in Latin. Lancaster Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference. 30th June

Hicks, F. (2021). An Examination of Third Person Singular Pronoun Usage in Written English by Native Cantonese Speakers. International Conference of Undergraduate Research, online 28th – 29th September

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