APPLIED SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Linguistic variation and the social determinants of health
With support from the National Institute of Health (National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities), my newest area of research investigates the role of the language and dialect variation in the social determinants of health. At this stage, I am developing a large-scale survey that will study the relationship between varieties of English and Spanish and the social determinants of health, such as economic stability, health care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context.
communicating hazardous weather risks to spanish speakers
In collaboration with Dr. Joseph Trujillo-Falcón and with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), I investigate the role that Spanish dialect variation as well as Spanish-English bilingualism plays in how severe weather alerts are communicated in Spanish across the U.S.
PERCEPTUAL DIALECTOLOGY
Where do people who say “X” Live?
I use heat mapping methods, through the online survey design platform, Qualtrics, to understand how speakers (particularly those in Miami) associate examples of the local lexicon to specific neighborhoods. I ask people a question about perceived residence, which is “Please click on the neighborhood where you think people who use [insert word/phrase] are most likely to live.” I analyze these data according to three primary independent variables, namely national origin background, status as a heritage Spanish speaker, and rootedness (or how strongly one identifies, socially and culturally) to Miami and/or their family’s country of origin.
To cite this work, you can currently cite my dissertation, as some of this work is currently undergoing peer-review.
VARIATIONIST SOCIOLINGUISTICS
MORPHOSYNTACTIC VARIATION OF SPANISH DIFFERENTIAL OBJECT MARKING
Using sociolinguistic interview data from PRESEEA, I am conducting a quantitative analysis of the social variation of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Spanish. The analysis compares multiple Spanish-speaking regions, including two bilingual regions within the U.S., and the primary goal is to investigate whether we find that this variable - one with low social saliency - demonstrates systematic variation across age, gender, and education levels.
Do[s] naranja[s] or do[h] naranja[h]
Using both variationist sociolinguistic and sociophonetic methods, I have conducted research on the social and linguistic factors that condition coda-/s/ weakening and elision in the Spanish of Buenos Aires.
Two candidates - one accent
As a part of the Texas English Linguistics Lab (TELL) I have studied how Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, both speakers of "NYC English", differ in their productions of syllable-final /r/ and THOUGHT vowel raising. In this project, we analyze how Trump is more of a linguistic performer than Sanders by accommodating his speech towards his audience and how Sanders appears to be more steadfast in his linguistic production.
A write-up for the Linguistics Research Center at UT Austin can be found here.
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS
In collaboration with computer scientists, I am currently working on automated data collection and coding procedures to study online ethnolinguistic identities. I recently published this article on no sabo kids and how heritage Spanish speakers in the U.S. are policied, in both Spanish and English.
My team and I are now turning our attention to the comment section to understand how people are reacting and responding to videos about no sabo kids. Using over 7,000 videos and 100,000 comments, we are designing sentiment analysis programs using machine learning that are informed by sociolinguistic notions of perceptual dialectology and listener/perceiver identity.
SPEECH COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
THE PERFORMANCE OF VARIABLE LATINX IDENTITIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Through this work, I use social media as a way to rethink contemporary definitions of “speech community.” To put the argument simply, since the notions of time and space are blurred when it comes to online social media outlets, we can be (or perform to be) part of numerous speech communities simultaneously and furthermore, social media algorithms are changing what we know to be “in-group” vs. “out-group” community membership. With this work, I have written how specific lexical examples have become associated with, and enregistered as part of a Miami-Cuban identity. To cite this work, you can currently cite my dissertation as Callesano (2020).
LANGUAGE PERCEPTION AND ATTITUDES
Implicit language bias towards Spanish and English
By using a common method in the field of the social psychology - the Implicit Association Test - Phillip M. Carter and I analyze implicit language biases towards Spanish and English in Miami. We have conducted three experiments to test these subconscious perceptions, each with different stimuli. The manuscript is published with the International Journal of Bilingualism.
The social meaning of spanish in miami
I have conducted experimental perception research that pertains to three varieties of Spanish commonly heard in Miami - Cuban, Colombian, and Peninsular. We complicate the matched guise methodology by adding an additional stimulus, namely the ostensible country of origin of the speakers' parents. We investigate the effect of these national origin labels and how the perceptions of these varieties have sociological implications.
This work is conducted in collaboration with Phillip M. Carter and the manuscript, published in 2018, can be found here. Published in Latino Studies, our article discusses specific sociolinguistic perceptions regarding socioeconomic class, income, and employment.
Perceptions of personality and language use
In a second manuscript, published in Language and Communication, we explore perceptions of the same three Spanish varieties, however with regard to personality traits and language use. Our results somewhat follow the warmth/competence split often discussed in social psychology; the Peninsular dialect is rated higher for competence traits, yet we find no difference among the three dialects for warmth traits. Additionally, we find a relative prestige to be attributed to the Colombian variety when it comes to questions of language maintenance and shift.