Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Strathy Language Unit

The Strathy Language Unit is a specialized research unit housed in the Department of English at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Created in 1981 through a bequest from alumnus J.R. Strathy, the unit is mandated to study standard English usage in Canada and to contribute to reference works and resources on Canadian English. Beyond its research and publishing activities, the unit plays a concrete funding role by offering targeted grants to students engaged in projects on Canadian English.

Within Queen’s University, the Strathy Language Unit serves as a hub for scholarship on the structure, usage and sociolinguistic variation of English across Canada. It maintains major resources such as the Strathy Corpus of Canadian English, supports collaborative dictionary and reference projects, and promotes the study of Canadian English through courses, conferences and outreach.

The unit offers two main types of financial support for Queen’s students whose work focuses on Canadian English. Strathy Student Research Grants provide competitive research funding for undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline who are conducting projects on aspects of the structure or usage of English in Canada. Strathy Student Conference Grants are competitive travel grants that help undergraduates and graduate students present this work at academic conferences.

Application procedures for both funding streams are clearly outlined via downloadable application forms in PDF and Word formats. These grants complement other forms of academic support at Queen’s by focusing specifically on language-related projects tied to Canadian English usage, variation, history and identity.

Although the grants are reserved for Queen’s students, the impact of the Strathy Language Unit extends nationally and internationally through its research outputs and resources. Projects and publications such as the Guide to Canadian English Usage, the Strathy Occasional Papers and student working paper series, and collaborations like the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles contribute to a broader understanding of English in Canada. The unit also assists external researchers who make use of its corpus and collections, thereby indirectly supporting a wider scholarly community.

The unit’s activities are guided by the original mandate in J.R. Strathy’s will to study standard English usage and produce guides and ancillary publications. Over several decades, directors and staff have expanded this mission to include corpus development, community-based recording projects, and strong student involvement. Staff roles include a director, researcher/administrator, research assistants and interns, reflecting an academic governance model integrated into Queen’s University structures.

Information about the unit’s mission, ongoing projects and student support is published on Queen’s University’s official website. Prospective applicants for student grants can consult the activities section for up-to-date application forms and may contact the unit directly in Kingston Hall for further details about eligibility and upcoming deadlines.