Professor Lesley Stirling

Lesley Stirling is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Melbourne and is currently serving as interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts. She received her PhD in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh, and her research focuses on meaning and interaction, including in health communication and communication of people on the autism spectrum.

Lesley’s interest in linguistics stems from the insights the discipline provides into cultures and people’s lives which are impossible to gain in any other way.  Understanding how language works is essential not only to learn a language, but also to understand how languages are born, how they change and grow, and how and why some are abandoned and die.

Lesley’s first book, a typological study of how links are made in conversation and story, led to the award of the Australian Academy of Humanities Crawford Medal for achievement and promise in the Humanities. In 2023, the book in which Lesley's chapter ‘Deixis and anaphora’ appeared, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, was awarded the 7th bi-annual Leonard Bloomfield Book Award by the Linguistic Society of America.

Lesley’s current research investigates turn-taking, knowledge management and storytelling among speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages and Anglo-Australian speakers in remote regions.

Lesley was Assistant Dean for Equal Opportunity and Diversity from 2009-2014, and has an ongoing passion for promoting equity and mentoring.

Lesley also teaches in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and was Head of the School of Languages and Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts from 2019-2023. She will return to her position in the program when the new Dean of Arts, Professor Jennifer Balint commences.

In her spare time, Lesley enjoys outdoor activities and manages a home apiary of three beehives, which produces a steady supply of honey.