Featured Scholar: April 2023

 

What are you watching/streaming: 

My wife and I watch Austin FC games, which has been really fun as we've been to a few games at Q2. I'm looking forward to watching my Philadelphia Eagles this fall as well (Fly Eagles Fly!). We also recently streamed the Obi-Wan Kanobi series, it was fantastic. 

What games are you playing? 

I'm going to interpret this liberally and say that I like playing “hiking” in Caprock Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon as well as in New Mexico and other parts of West Texas. Hiking in the southwest gives me life. Also, after many years of not playing soccer, I recently started kicking the soccer ball around the backyard again. It's a good reminder to have fun and do something that serves only the purpose of play.  

What are you listening to? 

I've been listening to Leon Bridges a lot, especially his newer albums Gold Digger-Sound, Texas Sun and Texas Moon. While I've never really explored country music, of recent I've discovered The Pandhandlers and they so beautifully capture the land and people of West Texas. I also came across Flatland Cavalry and they likewise have a great sound and capture the area well (and are apparently Red Raiders!). I also listen to a lot of Philadelphia sports radio to keep up with my Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Union.  

What are you reading? 

I've been reading Anna Marie Trester's Bringing Linguistics to Work and Employing Linguistics: Thinking and talking about careers in linguistics. It's been great to read about all the transferable skills linguists have and how many linguists are applying these skills in great jobs in industry. I'm using this information to help inform my graduate students on their professional options.  

What are you writing/thinking about? 

As a sociolinguist, I'm interested in the variation that exists in both production (i.e., how we say things) and perception (i.e., how we hear things). I'm working with colleagues on studies that examine sociophonetic variation in Guatemalan and Argentinian Spanish. Another study, kindly funded by the Humanities Center, examines the effect of a study abroad experience in Sevilla on second language and heritage Spanish speakers' production and perception of sounds. I'm also working on several studies that examine the social perceptions of bilingual Spanish right here in West Texas. All to say, sociolinguistic variation is fascinating!