As a sociolinguist, I carry out research on how we use language in society. My specialty is food discourse, or the language of food used across various genres and spaces, such as cooking shows, cookbooks, and food podcasts, as well as in supermarkets and hawker centers. Guided by my primary discipline of linguistics, I also draw upon interdisciplinary fields such as sociology, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, and history.
Publications
Food media
My sister and I wrote a manuscript on Food Discourse of Celebrity Chefs of Food Network. We discuss how celebrity chefs use evaluations, stories, and humor to relay recipes and entertain viewers.
Culinary Diplomacy
U.S. President Donald Trump walks with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un after lunch at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
- “Trump-Kim 2018 Singapore Summit and culinary diplomacy: the role of food and symbols in international relations,” Oct 20, 2020, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy
- “Singapore makes a global mark with its culinary diplomacy,” Aug 22, 2022, Southeast Asia Globe.
- “Culinary diplomacy puts food at the center of relations between nations and could even help resolve conflict in Ukraine” July 15, 2022, with Daniel Buarque, Editor Executive, Interesse Nacional (Brazilian international news and foreign policy media).
- “Lab-grown meat has sparked Singapore’s Appetite for proteins,” Jan 18, 2022, interview and mention by Amanda Oon, Southeast Asia Globe.
Comics and Humor
News Articles
- “Comics and humour in Singapore public hygiene campaign posters,” Jun 28 – Jul 5, 2022, Coverage on our study on success behind public awareness posters in Singapore, initiated by NTU’s CCO. View news release.
- S’pore’s toilet etiquette posters the subject of 12-page research paper by US linguists, Mothership, 5 Jul 2022
- The Straits Times, July 4, 2022, “US linguists so tickled by Singapore’s toilet posters, they wrote a paper on them” The Straits Times, page C4 (half-page, with blurb on page C1), and online
- US linguists so tickled by Singapore’s toilet etiquette posters, they wrote a paper on such campaigns, The New Paper, 3 July
- ‘Singaporean signs are very smart’: American linguists so tickled by toilet etiquette posters, they wrote a research paper on it, AsiaOne (Singapore), 3 Jul
- Comics and humour key to success of ‘Keep Singapore Clean’ campaign, Mirage News (Australia), 28 Jun
Live Radio Interviews
- American twin sisters detail the success of the “Keep Singapore Clean” campaign, Asia First, CNA 938, 5 Jul, 8.45 am (Live radio interview)
- Why the “Keep Singapore Clean” campaign is so endearingly successful, Singapore Today, CNA 938, 29 Jun, 5.10 pm (Live radio interview)
Journal Article
Here is the link to our published academic paper as well. Matwick, K., & Matwick, K. (2022). Comics, humor, and public hygiene on Singapore’s national campaign posters. Discourse, Context, & Media, 46, 100590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2022.100590
