Overall, my research focuses on how language varies and changes over time in first and second language Spanish. I focus on the linguistic, social and cognitive factors that affect this variation, as well as how their effect changes over time or with learner experience with Spanish. Below are some examples of my prior and ongoing research projects.
Working memory and subject expression in first and second language Spanish
In a series of completed and ongoing projects, I am exploring the role of cognitive constraints on sociolinguistic variation, focusing on executive working memory and subject expression in Spanish. Since overt subjects are used to track referents in discourse, and their use are affected by discursive constraints such as distance, discourse continuity, and priming, I questioned whether working memory limits also constrain speaker use of subject forms. I hypothesized that both native speakers and learners with higher working memory would use less overt subjects than those with lower working memory, and that they would do so at further distances from the last mention of the subject referent. I found this to be true for 3rd person subjects, and only for lexical NPs, and all overt subjects, but not for subject pronouns. Additionally, the effect of working memory on subject expression was stronger for less advanced learners than for more advanced learners and native speakers. These findings indicate that sociolinguistic variation in both first and second languages is constrained by general cognitive abilities and limits, in addition to linguistic, discursive, and social variables, supporting a usage-based approach to language. From this research, I argue that the linguistic constraints on other morphosyntactic variables, such as subject complexity on subject doubling in French, and subject length on auxiliary contraction in English, may be due to general constraints on human cognition, and that working memory should continued to be explored as a explanatory variable for sociolinguistic variation across structures and languages.
The acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in second language Spanish
Much of my research centers on how second language learners acquire patterns of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish, both in the at-home context and during study abroad, with a focus on morphosyntactic variation and trill variation. For example, a colleague and I are currently investigating whether study abroad learners in Chile and Spain demonstrate patterns of variation in perfective marking that develop differently given that they are in contact with regional varieties of Spanish in which perfective actions are marked distinctly. In another collaborative study, I investigated how linguistic factors, such as word frequency, contribute to variation in pronunciation of the Spanish trill. Additionally, in a collaboration with two colleagues, Dr. Avizia Long and Dr. Bret Linford, we are completing a co-edited volume on study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish. Lastly, I am currently collecting data for a year-long longitudinal study collecting samples of learners' speech on three speaking tasks, in order to examining how patterns of sociolinguistic variation for several variables change over time in the same set of speakers.
Language variation and change in native Spanish
I also research how language varies and changes over time in native speaker Spanish, particularly regarding morphosyntactic variation. For example, I have completed several research projects on grammaticalization in Spanish (and French) in forms expressing the future, future-in-the-past and perfect. Additionally, I am expanding a prior collaborative project on the relationship of priming and frequency to variation on negative quantifiers + más in Venezuelan Spanish. This new project examines variation in this structure in two additional dialects in collaboration with several of my graduate students (Marina Bonilla-Conejo, Elsa Cembrero Bonet, Rocio Leguisamon and Ethan Sims). A third project examines the use of the progressive as a future form in Caribbean and Mexican Spanish as well as in heritage speakers of these varieties of Spanish. This project is being carried out in collaboration with Rocio Leguisamon, a PhD student at UAlbany. Lastly, another graduate student, Chelsea Thompson, and I are currently collecting and coding data for a study of variation between three complementizers (que, y or a null complementizer) in Caribbean Spanish.
Individual differences in second language acquisition
In addition to the afore-mentioned research on working memory and L2 subject expression, I have completed and am continuing a series of studies on how individual learner differences affect their second language development. One strand of this research examines the relationship of executive working memory and phonological short-term memory to the acquisition of gender agreement and assignment in the spoken Spanish of advanced learners (in collaboration with Marina Bonilla-Conejo). The other strand of this research investigates the relationship between phonological short-term memory and the L2 pronunciation of various sounds. I have also analyzed the role of learner sex, contact with the target language, years of study, study abroad, and other individual variables on L2 acquisition of various, mostly morphosyntactic structures. Currently, data collection is ongoing for a year-long longitudinal project that examines learners' executive working memory and phonological short-term memory, as well as several other learners characteristics, and their relationship to various aspects of L2 Spanish production and pronunciation.
Instructor speech in the second language classroom
In collaboration with my colleague Dr. Danielle Daidone at University of North Carolina - Wilmington, we are currently collecting and transcribing recordings of instructor speech across four levels of Spanish language courses. Most models of L2 acquisition highlight the importance of input during SLA; however, classroom learners often have limited input, which can differ quite extensively from native speaker input outside the classroom. Thus, we are currently building a corpus of instructor classroom input, with the goal of examining whether and how instructor input in the classroom differs from Spanish outside the classroom. Our ultimate goal is to make this resource available to other researchers of SLA. Thus far, we have 64 recordings from five instructors compiled. Data collection is continuing through the 2021-2022 Academic Year and transcription is ongoing. A pilot study on trill production using the data highlights the importance of considering instructor classroom input, which differed from native speakers´ production on speaking tasks commonly used in the research setting outside the classroom. We submitted the findings of this study to a conference in Spring 2022. We are also writing a grant to submit in Spring 2022 for funding to continue compiling the corpus and make it publicly available for other researchers.
Publications
Edited Volumes
Zahler, S. L., Long, A. Y. & Linford, B. (Eds.) (Forthcoming). Study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish.
Journal articles
Zahler, S. L. & Lord, G. (2022). The role of phonological short-term memory in second language phonology: Exploring vowel quality among English-speaking learners of Spanish. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada.
Zahler, S.L. (2021). Speech strategy sequencing in online personal advertisements: Differences according to sex and sexual orientation in Mexico City and London. Gender and Language.
Daidone, D., & Zahler, S. L. (2021). A variationist analysis of second language Spanish trill production. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics.
Díaz-Campos, M. & Zahler, S. L. (2018). Testing formal accounts of variation: A sociolinguistic analysis of word order in negative word + más constructions. Hispania, 101(4), 605-619.
Linford, B., Zahler, S. L., & Whatley, M. (2018). Acquisition, study abroad and individual differences: The case of subject pronoun variation in L2 Spanish. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 3(2), 243-274.
Book chapters
Zahler, S. L. & Daidone, D. (Forthcoming). Individual differences do not affect trill variation by advanced learners of Spanish. Innovative approaches to research in Hispanic linguistics: Regional, diachronic and learner profile variation. (Editors: Sara Fernández Cuenca, Tiffany Judy and Lauren Miller).
Zahler, S. L. & Whatley, M. (Forthcoming). Learning context and the development of second language Spanish past-time perfective marking at home and abroad. Study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish. (Editors: S. Zahler, A.Y. Long & B. Linford).
Zahler, S. L. (In Press). Some issues in usage-based methods: Contributions from corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics and variationist sociolinguistics. The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics (Editors: Manuel Diaz-Campos & Sonia Balasch).
Zahler, S. L. (2022). Measuring individual differences: A look at working memory. The Routledge Handbook of SLA and Sociolinguistics. (Editor: K. Geeslin). Daidone, D. & Zahler, S. L. (2016). The future is in the past: A diachronic analysis of variable future-in-the-past expression in Spanish. In A. Cuza, L. Czerwionka, & D. Olson (Eds.) Inquiries in Hispanic linguistics: From theory to empirical evidence (pp. 317-334). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ihll.12.17dai
Refereed Working Papers
Zahler, S. L. (2015). Pragmalinguistic variation in electronic personal ads from Mexico City and London. Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers, 15(1), 208-230.
Zahler, S. L. & Daidone, D. (2014). A variationist account of trill /r/ usage in the Spanish of Málaga. Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers, 14(2), 17-42.
Submitted/In Progress
Zahler, S. L. & Bonilla-Conejo, M. (Resubmitted). Individual differences in the production of morphological gender marking in second language Spanish by advanced learners.
Bonilla Conejo, M., Cembrero Bonet, E., Leguisamon, R., Sims, E., & Zahler, S. L. (Under review). Diferencias dialectales en el orden de palabras en la construcción más + palabras negativas.
Zahler, S. L. (Under review). The second language development of past perfective forms in Spanish.
Zahler, S. L. (In revisions). An evaluation of serial nonword recognition task characteristics on measuring phonological short-term memory.
Zahler, S.L. (In revisions). The relationship between cognitive constraints and probabilistic variation: Subject expression in Spanish.
In Prep
Zahler, S. L. Cognitive abilities and L2 sociolinguistic competence: The relationship of working memory to L2 Spanish subject expression.
Zahler, S., & Leguisamon, R. The present progressive as a future marker in monolingual Spanish, monolingual English, and Spanish and English in contact.
Selected Conference Presentations
Zahler, S. L. & Leguisamon, R. “La función del progresivo en inglés, español y el español en contacto con inglés”. Paper presented at the 2022 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Arizona State University, held virtually. November 2022.
Thompson, C. & Zahler, S. L. “Complementizer variation in ojalá + subordinate clauses in Puerto Rican Spanish”. Paper presented at the 2022 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Arizona State University, held virtually. November 2022.
Bonilla-Conejo, M., Cembrero Bonet, E., Leguisamon, R., Sims, E., & Zahler, S. L. (April, 2022) “Dialectal differences in variable word order in negative word + más constructions: The case of Puerto Rican and Panamanian Spanish”. Paper presented at the 10th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, Georgia Tech University, held virtually. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Daidone, D. (February, 2022) “Documenting instructor oral input in the Spanish language classroom.” Paper presented at the 8th biennial Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology (CASPSLaP), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, held virtually. Powerpoint. Zahler, S. L. & Daidone, D. (October, 2021). ¨Individual variability in the production of the trill phoneme in second language Spanish.¨ Paper presented at the 2019 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2021), Wake Forest University, held virtually. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (October, 2019). "Second language learners and working memory: Production of gender agreement in advanced Spanish". Paper presented at the 2019 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2019), University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (September, 2019). "Individual differences in L2 pronunciation: The relationship between phonological memory and L2 Spanish VOT length". Paper presented at the 2019 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2019), Michigan State University, Lansing, MI. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (October, 2018). "The relationship between working memory and the acquisition of variable subject expression by second language learners of Spanish." Paper presented at the 2018 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2018), Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada. Powerpoint. Zahler, S. L. (October, 2018). "The role of cognitive constraints in language variation: The relationship between working memory and subject expression variation in Spanish." Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation 47 (NWAV 47), New York University, New York, NY. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Lord, G. (February, 2018). "The role of phonological short-term memory in Spanish second language phonology: Exploring vowel quality and duration among English-speaking learners." Paper presented at the 10th Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology (CASPSLaP 2018), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Whatley, M. (October, 2017). “Regional variation and the L2 acquisition of variable Spanish perfective marking.” Paper presented at the 2017 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2017), Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX. Powerpoint.
Daidone, D. & Zahler, S. L. (March, 2017). “Structural and frequency effects on the variable production of Spanish L2 taps and trills.” Paper presented at the Georgetown University Round Table of Languages and Linguistics (GURT 2017), Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Daidone, D. (November, 2016). “A diachronic analysis of variable future-in-the-past and canonical future expression in Spanish.” Poster presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 45), Simon Frasier University and University of Victoria, Vancouver, B.C. Poster.
Daidone, D. & Zahler, S. L. (November, 2014). “The future is in the past: A diachronic analysis of variable future-in-the-past expression in Spanish.” Paper presented at the 2014 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2014), Purdue University, Lafayette, IN. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Díaz-Campos, M. (October, 2014). “Priming effects in the use of más + negative constructions: A quantitative analysis of oral data.” Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 43), University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. & Elias, M. V. (September, 2014). “Spanish in context: Stop-tap clusters in a contact zone in Colorado.” Paper presented at the 43rd Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO 43), California State University- San Marcos, San Diego, CA. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (April, 2014). “Speech strategy variation in Mexico City Spanish and London English in online personal advertisements.” Paper presented at Pragmatics and Language Learning 2014 (PLL 2014), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Powerpoint.
Whatley, M., Zahler, S. L., Geeslin, K., & Díaz-Campos, M. (April, 2014). “The impact of study abroad on the acquisition of the Spanish copula contrast.” Paper presented at the 7th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS7), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Powerpoint.
Day, M. M. & Zahler, S. L. (April, 2014). “Tener + past participle: The early stages.” Paper presented at the 2014 Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC 2014), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Powerpoint.
Daidone, D. & Zahler, S. (March, 2014). “A variationist study of the L2 production of Spanish trills.” Paper presented at the 4th Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology (CASPSLaP 2014), Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Powerpoint.
Linford, B., Zahler, S. L., & Whatley, M. (November, 2013). “The impact of study abroad on L2 Spanish null v. overt subject pronoun variation.” Paper presented at the 2013 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF 2013), Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. & Daidone, D. (October, 2013). “A variationist account of trill /r/ usage in the Spanish of Málaga.” Paper presented at the 17th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS 2013), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario. Powerpoint.
Díaz-Campos, M. & Zahler, S. L. (October, 2013). “Testing previous formal accounts of variation in word order in negative word + más constructions.” Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 42), University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (September, 2013). “A computer-mediated discourse analysis and contrastive pragmatics approach to the study of personal ads from Mexico City and London.” Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO 42), College of New Jersey and Westchester University, New Brunswick, NJ. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (October, 2012). “A sociolinguistic study of subject doubling in Parisian Colloquial French.” Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 41), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (October, 2012). “Tener + past participle: Towards a new present perfect form in Modern Peninsular Spanish?” Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 41), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (March, 2012). “Rhotic neutralization versus contrast maintenance in the Spanish of the United States.” Paper presented at the 2012 Georgetown University Roundtable on Linguistics (GURT 2012), Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Powerpoint.
Zahler, S. L. (October, 2011). “¿Desde cuándo? Temporal prepositions meaning ‘since’ in modern peninsular Spanish and the effect of ‘when’ on their variation.” Paper presented at the 40th Annual New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 40), Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Powerpoint.