Penelope Scott Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Applied Linguistics

Penelope Scott is Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. She has published articles in Transactions of the Philological Society, Neophilologus, and English Studies, and has contributed to various edited collections. Her research interests include health and illness in Anglo-Saxon England, Old English semantics, conceptual metaphor, the senses in Old English, and the link between cognition and culture.

Website: https://pennyscott1.academia.edu



  • Ph.D. English Language, University of Edinburgh
  • B.A. English Language (1st Class Hons.) , Newcastle University
  • MLitt in Linguistics (Distinction), Newcastle University


  • Co-Leader, Research Group in Health Humanities, part of the CCCS Research Center at XJTLU
  • Lecturer in Linguistics, XJTLU, 2013-2015
  • Associate Professor in Linguistics, 2015-Present
  • Head of Department, Department of Applied Linguistics, 2020-Present


  • Dr Scott's research interests include:
  • Old English
  • Cultural linguistics
  • Anglo Saxon medical texts
  • Hagiographies


  • "Conceptualizing health: A corpus-based Cultural Linguistic study" (2023). International Journal of Language and Culture
  • "Wellness: A cultural linguistic analysis of the conceptualisation of health" (2023). Cultural Linguistics and Critical Discourse Studies, Reif, Monika and Frank Polzenhagen (eds.), pp. 146–169
  • “Conceptualising olfaction: a study of the scent nouns and adjectives in Old English” (2021). Studia Neophilologica (Vol. 93) https://doi.org/10.1080/00393274.2021.1885308
  • “Holiness in Old English: The Construction of the Sacred in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints” (2020). Neophilologus (Vol. 104) DOI :10.1007/s11061-020-09648-4.
  • “Symbolic Illness and the Construction of Virginities in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints” (2019). English Studies (Vol. 100 Issue 8): pp. 959-979
  • "Illness as a Burden in Anglo-Saxon England" (2017). Neophilologus. (Volume 101): pp. 603-620. DOI 10.1007/s11061-017-9527-7
  • "Geminate Reduction and High Vowel Syncope in West Saxon Weak Past Participles" (2015). Transactions of the Philological Society (TPS) (Volume 113): pp. 105-126.


  • “Mid hefigum byrthenum: The burden metaphor in Old English”, in Vera da Silva Sinha, Ana Moreno-Núñez and Zhen Tian (eds.) Signs of Life: Changes and Continuity in Language, Thought and Identity. John Benjamins. (2020).
  • “Trigger Warnings in a Cultural-Cognitive Linguistic Perspective”, in Kiełtyka, R. and A. Uberman (eds.) Studies in Linguistics, Anglophone Literatures and Cultures. Vol. 14. Culture and Cognition in Language edited by Duda, B., R. Kiełtyka, R. and E. Konieczna. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (2019)
  • “The Lexicalisation of Syncope: Derivational Affixes in West Saxon Adjectives”. (2012). English Historical Linguistics 2008. John Benjamins


  • April 2017 The cultural metaphoric basis for trigger warnings Paper presented at Culture, Cognition and Language in Rzeszów, Poland
  • July 2016 Health, healing, and salvation in Anglo-Saxon England. Paper presented at the International Conference on Cultural Linguistics. Prato, Italy
  • July 2014 Phonology, analogy and the Neogrmmarians. LIPP Symposium on language Change and Innovation. Munich, Germany
  • Jan 2014 ‘The status of ‘false’ geminates in Old English (poster). Symposium on Historical Phonology. University of Edinburgh
  • July 2012 Non-high vowel deletion vs. high vowel deletion: The phonology of the past participles in Late Northumbrian and Early West Saxon. Paper presented at the International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL). University of Zurich
  • Nov 2010 Old English morphophonology (poster). Language, Text and History Symposium. University of Cambridge
  • July 2008 The lexicalisation of syncope: derivational affixes in West Saxon adjectives. International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL). University of Munich


  • 2020-Present Head of Department of Applied Linguistics
  • 2017- Academic Quality Sub Committee (member)
  • 2013-2018 University Learning and Teaching Committee (member)
  • 2013-2018 Departmental Learning and Teaching Committee (Chair)


  • ENG325 Historical Linguistics
  • ENG220 Language and Mind
  • ENG219 Semantics and Pragmatics
  • LAN003 How Language Works
  • LAN002 Literature and Film


  • 2010 Doctoral award: PhD English Language, Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Edinburgh
  • 2005 Postgraduate award: MLitt Linguistics, Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Penelope Scott