Linguistic Historiography

My main field of interest involves the study of linguistic works produced in colonial or missionary settings. Projects include a study of Nahuatl grammars from New Spain and a study of linguistic work done during the Mission period in California. I am also interested in comparing colonial grammars from the Spanish, French and English traditions.

Sociolinguistics and Language Variation

I am working on projects examining how to foster sociolinguistic competence and awareness of variation in both Spanish and Linguistics courses. I am also interested in the cultural and political status of indigenous languages in Latin America, and in bilingualism and trilingualism in Mexican and Central American communities in the U.S.

Phonology

My interests in phonology include loan word phonology, modeling variation and sound change in Optimality Theory, and the role of the syllable in well-formedness constraints.