Maria Szymańska is a researcher and a lecturer affiliated to the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Lodz.

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ORCID: 0000-0002-3008-0211

I explore linguistic innovation as a social and cultural process, asking why particular expressions emerge, what meanings they acquire, and how they become meaningful to the communities that use them. I am interested in language not simply as a reflection of social change, but as one of the places where social change is actively made.

Gender has become a central concern in this work. My research on gendered neologisms and drag linguistics examines how language encodes and reinforces, but also exaggerates and challenges, ideas about masculinity and femininity. I am also interested in linguistic creativity in digital spaces.

I teach courses on lexical sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and internet linguistics.

Recent publications:

Szymańska, M. (2026). Gendered neologisms and social transformation. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009785785

Szymańska, M. (2026). Linguistic creativity on digital platforms: Exploring neologism motivation on social media. Language and Dialogue, 16(1), 30–48. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00218.szy

Szymańska, M. (2025). Linguistics of drag: Drag queens and linguistic performance of “feminine” identity. In M. Edward & S. Farrier (Eds.), Drag vistas and visions: Drag in a changing scene (Vol. 3, pp. 157–170). Bloomsbury Publishing.