Per Boström

Research

I am currently involved in several research projects:

• A VR-funded project called Writing as nutrition for democracies (VR 2018-03779). In the project, with Eva Lindgren as principal investigator, we investigate opinions on democracy and how the act of writing can be a way of participate in and make a difference in a democratic society. Partcipating in the project is also Carina Hermansson, Peter Ström, Erika Sturk and Anna Nilsson. 
• A project funded by Umeå school of education’s satsning on reading and writing at Umeå university (forskningssatsning LITUM 2009–2016). In the project, I, together with Kristina Persson, focus on metaphor production in young children.  
• In a multinational project I, together with Marlene Johansson Falck, Lacey Okonski and Luciane Corrêa Ferreira, analyze and compare metaphors for climate in Swedish, American English and Brazilian Portuguese.

In september 2018 I successfully defended my PhD thesis in Swedish/Scandinavian languages titled ”Det här är ju dött tåg liksom…”: en studie av metaforer för ROMANTISK KÄRLEK i talad svenska. In the thesis I investigate metaphors used for romantic love. Results show that love is metaphorized mainly as an object, a container, a journey or a unity.  

Areas of interest: Cognitive Linguistics, metaphor, discourse analysis, embodied cognition, writing, democracy, children’s language development, sociolinguistics, political metaphor discourse, forensic linguistics, etc. 

Teaching

I teach sociolinguistics, children’s language development, metaphor (theory and method), academic writing, text analysis, forensic linguistics. I supervise BA- and MA- theses, also theses within teacher education, in Swedish/Scandinavian Languages, Swedish as a second language and English. I also evaluate teacher students in their practical training in schools.

Networks

CogLing Umeå

MetNet Scandinavia

SALC (The Scandinavian Association for Language & Cognition)

Media participation (a selection)

Så uttrycker vi kärlek! - Radio interview in Swedish national radio (Morgon P4 Uppland) (in Swedish).

Så pratar vi om kärlek: "Vad tråkiga de unga är!”. TV Interview in Swedish TV (TV4:s Nyhetsmorgon) (In Swedish).

Språkforskaren: Så pratar vi om romantisk kärlek – Interview for Umeå Tidning (local newspaper).

Har du lätt för att säga ”Jag älskar dig”? – Lättare för yngre att tala om känslor. Article for Svenska Yle (Finnish TV and Radio).