James Tompkinson

Profile

Biography

James joined the department in 2023 as a Lecturer in Sociolinguistics. His research interests are in topics which sit at the intersection of sociophonetics, forensic phonetics and forensic linguistics. James has primarily conducted research on perceptual judgments of different speakers and the application of these judgments in forensic contexts. His published work includes the analysis of perceptions of police interviewees from audio recordings and written transcripts, exploration of the relative contributions of voices and faces in person perception, assessments of whether non-linguists can accurately assess different aspects of speakers voices, and how people infer traits such as threat and intent-to-harm from speakers’ voices.  

Prior to joining the department, James worked as a Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics at Aston University and as a Forensic Consultant at J P French Associates. He has also taught phonetics to students at Newcastle University. James holds a PhD in Linguistics, an MSc in Forensic Speech Science and a BA in English Language in Linguistics, all from the University of York.

Career

• Lecturer in Sociolinguistics – University of York (2023-Present)

• Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics – Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (2022-2023)

• Forensic Caseworker/Consultant (Speech Science) – J P French Associates (2018-2021)

• PhD in Linguistics – University of York (2015-2018)

• MSc Forensic Speech Science – University of York (2014-2015)

• BA English Language and Linguistics - University of York (2010-2013)