Katherine Morales
Katherine is an adjunct professor of sociolinguistics in the Department of English at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics at the University of Dublin - Trinity College (2013 - 2019) and a Masters of Science in Applied Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh (2011 - 2012).
Katherine has previously published on teen language, language and identity, semiotics, and bilingualism. Her most recent work is to be featured on an edited volume by Routledge London on Translinguistics.
She has a longstanding interest in describing bilingualism and English in U.S. territory Puerto Rico. Her research incorporates methods from linguistic anthropology, ethnography, variationist sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis in order to uncover the complex ideological and symbolic values of English on the island, how islanders orient to these values, and how they assert and construct their social identities through strategic use of language in interaction.
To see more about the kind of work Katherine does and her affiliation, visit her personal website:
https://katherinemoraleslinguist.com/about/
Supervisors: Dr. Jeffrey Kallen
Address: Ireland
Katherine has previously published on teen language, language and identity, semiotics, and bilingualism. Her most recent work is to be featured on an edited volume by Routledge London on Translinguistics.
She has a longstanding interest in describing bilingualism and English in U.S. territory Puerto Rico. Her research incorporates methods from linguistic anthropology, ethnography, variationist sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis in order to uncover the complex ideological and symbolic values of English on the island, how islanders orient to these values, and how they assert and construct their social identities through strategic use of language in interaction.
To see more about the kind of work Katherine does and her affiliation, visit her personal website:
https://katherinemoraleslinguist.com/about/
Supervisors: Dr. Jeffrey Kallen
Address: Ireland
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Issues of race in neocolonial Puerto Rico have often been overlooked in discussions of language on the island, favoring research on language ideologies and resistance to American culture. Despite over a hundred years of language contact, Census statistics portray a Spanish monolingual image of the island. This linguistic puzzle has been the subject of numerous studies which suggest that the apparent lack of bilingualism is due to a strong sense of cultural identity rooted in the local vernacular. As such, island Puerto Ricans are often discussed under a lens of maintenance and resistance: whereby the United States plays the role of the powerful colonizer and global influencer, and Puerto Ricans represent the defendants of Hispanic heritage (Valdez, 2016). In this presentation, I argue that the social construction of race is an equally important theme to consider when discussing Puerto Rican identity.
I discuss the racial distancing strategies employed by a group of bilingual adolescents who regularly use English in their social interactions. The data presented here is the result of a 6-month ethnography conducted in a public school on the island. Through semiotic theories of indexicality (Silverstein, 2003) and stance (Jaffe, 2009), I discuss local constructions of race. I argue that despite linguistically marked behaviors of English-dominant talk, adolescents pursue Hispanic identities through racial-labelling strategies and bilingual talk. In this way, adolescents establish themselves as authentic Puerto Ricans by referring to ideological constructions of “Whiteness”; thus, positioning themselves as rightful owners of Puerto Rican identity.
Developments of Late Modernity in the 21st century, such as the increase in population movement and technological advances, have led sociolinguists to question the once static descriptions of what it means to speak a language. In recent years, sociolinguistic research has expanded to include terms that argue for a more repertoire-driven approach to linguistic practices in bilingual settings. Terms such as “heteroglossia”, “translanguaging”, and “indexicality” have been used to suggest fluid and hybrid ways of describing linguistic practices, and consequently modeling their social meaning in interaction. In this way, while contemporary research acknowledges the ideological importance of language as a social construct and semiotic tool, it views the repertoire approach as a more accurate way of describing language use and sociolinguistic potential. Thus, contemporary research is concerned with describing a speaker’s “discourse analytic toolkit” (Blommaert, 2007: 115), rather than a model of fixed homogenous codes. This paper adopts recent efforts to understanding bilingual communication from a repertoire-driven approach by using Bakhtian notion of heteroglossia.
In my presentation I will implement current theories of bilingual discourse to the linguistic practices of two adolescent communities in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans have played a central role to many influential bilingual studies in the past, due to their presence in the United States as Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens. Their linguistic practices have often been observed from an identity-framework in English-speaking contexts. However, very little research has observed English language use on the island of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the majority language and English influence is primarily felt in educational settings. On the island, the social use of English is often seen as “snobby” or a betrayal to one’s ethnic roots; in mainland U.S., English-Spanish codeswitching is seen as a performance of one’s Hispanic heritage. On the island, English is often interpreted as a prestigious code, belonging to the elite community (Pousada, 2000); on the mainland, Spanish is the minority language and often does not hold the same prestige (Lippi-Green, 2011). From a poststructuralist approach, one could argue that the island’s complex ideological associations towards English are contested and negotiated in local practice, further that they are able to acquire new meaning in light of globalization processes.
However, little research has explored alternative social meanings of English in Puerto Rico, in favor of a simplified ethnolinguistic model of islanders’ practices. This paper will explore qualitative findings of an ongoing ethnographic investigation in two school communities on the island. It will provide examples of speakers from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds, their respective communities of practice (or social identities) and their linguistic practices. It aims to question previous models of social meaning in language use in Puerto Rico, as well as social meanings that have been popularly cited in bilingualism literature, which are heavily reliant on notions of ethnolinguistic identity and a binary we/they distinction.
https://sss6dublin.wordpress.com/
brings together both structural and contextual knowledge of linguistic features, in order to uncover the question of “why” behind certain linguistic practices. Other key concepts include Ben Rampton’s inclusive concept of “contemporary urban vernaculars” (CUVs) to describe the fluid and socially meaningful practices that take place in increasingly diverse, urban settings among Late Modern youth.
Issues of race in neocolonial Puerto Rico have often been overlooked in discussions of language on the island, favoring research on language ideologies and resistance to American culture. Despite over a hundred years of language contact, Census statistics portray a Spanish monolingual image of the island. This linguistic puzzle has been the subject of numerous studies which suggest that the apparent lack of bilingualism is due to a strong sense of cultural identity rooted in the local vernacular. As such, island Puerto Ricans are often discussed under a lens of maintenance and resistance: whereby the United States plays the role of the powerful colonizer and global influencer, and Puerto Ricans represent the defendants of Hispanic heritage (Valdez, 2016). In this presentation, I argue that the social construction of race is an equally important theme to consider when discussing Puerto Rican identity.
I discuss the racial distancing strategies employed by a group of bilingual adolescents who regularly use English in their social interactions. The data presented here is the result of a 6-month ethnography conducted in a public school on the island. Through semiotic theories of indexicality (Silverstein, 2003) and stance (Jaffe, 2009), I discuss local constructions of race. I argue that despite linguistically marked behaviors of English-dominant talk, adolescents pursue Hispanic identities through racial-labelling strategies and bilingual talk. In this way, adolescents establish themselves as authentic Puerto Ricans by referring to ideological constructions of “Whiteness”; thus, positioning themselves as rightful owners of Puerto Rican identity.
Developments of Late Modernity in the 21st century, such as the increase in population movement and technological advances, have led sociolinguists to question the once static descriptions of what it means to speak a language. In recent years, sociolinguistic research has expanded to include terms that argue for a more repertoire-driven approach to linguistic practices in bilingual settings. Terms such as “heteroglossia”, “translanguaging”, and “indexicality” have been used to suggest fluid and hybrid ways of describing linguistic practices, and consequently modeling their social meaning in interaction. In this way, while contemporary research acknowledges the ideological importance of language as a social construct and semiotic tool, it views the repertoire approach as a more accurate way of describing language use and sociolinguistic potential. Thus, contemporary research is concerned with describing a speaker’s “discourse analytic toolkit” (Blommaert, 2007: 115), rather than a model of fixed homogenous codes. This paper adopts recent efforts to understanding bilingual communication from a repertoire-driven approach by using Bakhtian notion of heteroglossia.
In my presentation I will implement current theories of bilingual discourse to the linguistic practices of two adolescent communities in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans have played a central role to many influential bilingual studies in the past, due to their presence in the United States as Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens. Their linguistic practices have often been observed from an identity-framework in English-speaking contexts. However, very little research has observed English language use on the island of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the majority language and English influence is primarily felt in educational settings. On the island, the social use of English is often seen as “snobby” or a betrayal to one’s ethnic roots; in mainland U.S., English-Spanish codeswitching is seen as a performance of one’s Hispanic heritage. On the island, English is often interpreted as a prestigious code, belonging to the elite community (Pousada, 2000); on the mainland, Spanish is the minority language and often does not hold the same prestige (Lippi-Green, 2011). From a poststructuralist approach, one could argue that the island’s complex ideological associations towards English are contested and negotiated in local practice, further that they are able to acquire new meaning in light of globalization processes.
However, little research has explored alternative social meanings of English in Puerto Rico, in favor of a simplified ethnolinguistic model of islanders’ practices. This paper will explore qualitative findings of an ongoing ethnographic investigation in two school communities on the island. It will provide examples of speakers from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds, their respective communities of practice (or social identities) and their linguistic practices. It aims to question previous models of social meaning in language use in Puerto Rico, as well as social meanings that have been popularly cited in bilingualism literature, which are heavily reliant on notions of ethnolinguistic identity and a binary we/they distinction.
https://sss6dublin.wordpress.com/
brings together both structural and contextual knowledge of linguistic features, in order to uncover the question of “why” behind certain linguistic practices. Other key concepts include Ben Rampton’s inclusive concept of “contemporary urban vernaculars” (CUVs) to describe the fluid and socially meaningful practices that take place in increasingly diverse, urban settings among Late Modern youth.