Spanish syntax, formal syntax, historical linguistics, historical syntax, Spanish historical syntax, language change and variation, dialect syntax, Romance linguistics, pronunciation pedagogy

Education

I earned my PhD in Spanish (Hispanic Linguistics) at The Ohio State University (USA) in 2009. In Spain, I obtained a licenciatura (B.A.) in Hispanic Philology (Spanish language and literature) and a Diploma de Estudios Avanzados (equivalent to M.A.) with concentration in Spanish language at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (Ciudad Real campus). I also attended the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset in Madrid, where I studied formal syntax.

Grants and fellowships at ANU

2016    CASS Workshop funding, ANU. With Solène Inceoglu.
2013    CASS Small grant for project "Australian Spanish Pronunciation Pedagogy".
2013    ANU Travel grant
2012    Visiting Fellow, HRC, ANU (semester 1)
2011    ANU Travel grant
2010    ANU Travel grant
2010    Vice-Chancellor Travel Grant

Courses regularly taught at ANU

-SPAN2001, SPAN2002 Continuing Spanish I and II

-SPAN2601 The Sounds of Spanish

-SPAN2603 History of the Spanish language. A linguistic time travel

-LING2020/6020 Structure of English

-LING2003/6003 Introduction to Syntax

Projects in progress

Australian Spanish Pronunciation Pedagogy Project, with Dr William Steed (ANU), Dr Alfredo Herrero de Haro (UoW) and Ms Alicia Mellado (CSIC, UCLM).

The syntax and semantics of nominals in Spanish and Portuguese, with Dr Patricia Amaral (Indiana University, USA)

The syntax of Spanish-Galician bilingual speakers, with Dr M. Carmen Parafita Couto (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

Areas of interest/research

-(Formal) Syntax of Spanish and other Romance languages, including dialect syntax
-Historical syntax of Spanish and other Romance languages, esp. prepositional finite clauses and clausal nominalization/substantivization
-Pronunciation pedagogy in Australia

Professional memberships

Linguistics:

• Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
• Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE)
• Australian Linguistic Society (ALS)
• Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association (ASSTA)

Applied Linguistics:

• Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA)
• Asociación Española de Lingüística Aplicada (AESLA)

Pedagogy/Teaching: 

• Asociación para la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera (ASELE)
• Languages & Cultures Network for Australian Universities (LCNAU)
• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

Proposals are welcome for Honours, MPhil, and PhD research in any of the areas listed in the research interests section above. 

PhD

-Mr Charbel El-Khaissi. PhD thesis on the diachrony of definiteness in Syriac. Chair of panel. In progress.

-Mr Turki Alharbi, PhD thesis on L2 English pronunciation teaching and learning in Saudi Arabia. Chair of panel. In progress.

MA

-Mr Song Jing. A syntactic analysis of xie in Southwestern Mandarin, MA thesis, Master of General and Applied Linguistics (Advanced). Completed. 2018.

-Mr Charbel El-Khaissi. The Syntax of Genitive Constructions in Syriac, MA thesis, Master of General and Applied Linguistics (Advanced). Completed. 2018.

Honours

-Ms Jessica Bottomley. Exploring phonological awareness and awareness of grapheme-phoneme correspondences in Australian tertiary students of Spanish. Co-supervised with Dr William Steed. Completed. 2016.

-Ms Kelsey O'Leary. The syntax of clausal nominalisations of Spanish and Portuguese. Completed. 2019.