Research

Overall, my research focuses on how language varies and changes over time in first, additional, and heritage varieties of 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. Please see below for my publications and works in progress.

Publications

Edited Volumes

Zahler, S. L., Long, A. Y. & Linford, B. (Eds.) (2023). Study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish. In Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics Series. John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37

Journal articles

Bonilla Conejo, M., Cembrero Bonet, E., Leguisamon, R., Sims, E., & Zahler, S. L. (2024). Diferencias dialectales en el orden de palabras en la construcción más + palabra negativa. Spanish in Context, 21(3), 431-454. https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.22011.bon

Zahler, S. L. (2023). The second language development of past perfective forms in Spanish. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 12(1), 207-229. doi.org/10.7557/1.12.1.6725

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, 35(1), 173-205. doi.org/10.1075/resla.20003.zah

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, 15(4), 503-524. doi.org/10.1558/genl.18800

Daidone, D., & Zahler, S. L. (2021). A variationist analysis of second language Spanish trill production. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 14(1), 1-37. doi.org/10.1515/shll-2021-2038

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. www.jstor.org/stable/26781133

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. doi.org/10.1075/sar.17003.lin

Book chapters

Zahler, S. L., & Leguisamon, R. (Forthcoming - Expected Late Fall 2025). Acceptance of the present progressive as a future form among Spanish-English bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals. In C. Bardel, A. Bergström, A. Gudmundson & F. Vallerossa (Eds.), Tense and aspect in multilingual Romance language education. In Trends in Applied Linguistics Series. De Gruyter Mouton.

Zahler, S. L., Daidone, D., & Kuder, E. (In Press - September 2025). University Spanish instructors’ trill production within and outside of the language classroom. In M. Solon, M. Kanwit, & A. Gudmestad (Eds.), Research at the intersection of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics: Studies in honor of Kimberly L. Geeslin. In Issues in Hispanic Linguistics Series. John Benjamins.

Zahler, S. L., & Leguisamon, R. (2024). The present progressive as a future marker in Spanish, English, and Spanish in contact with English. In M. Gradoville & S. McKinnon (Eds.), Recent developments in Hispanic linguistics: Studies in structure, variation, and bilingualism, pp. 151-171. In Issues in Hispanic Linguistics Series. John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/ihll.41.06zah

Zahler, S. L. (2023). Some issues in usage-based methods: Contributions from corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics, and variationist sociolinguistics. In M. Díaz-Campos & S. Balasch (Eds.), The handbook of usage-based linguistics, pp. 73-90. In Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics Series. Wiley-Blackwell. doi.org/10.1002/9781119839859.ch4

Zahler, S. L., & Daidone, D. (2023). Individual differences do not affect trill variation by advanced learners of Spanish. In S. Fernández Cuenca, T. Judy & L. Miller (Eds.), Innovative approaches to research in Hispanic linguistics: Regional, diachronic and learner profile variation, pp. 196-224. In Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics Series. John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/ihll.38.09zha

Zahler, S. L., & Whatley, M. (2023). Learning context and the development of L2 Spanish past-time perfective marking at home and abroad. In S. L. Zahler, A. Y. Long & B. Linford (Eds.), Study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish, pp. 321-349. In Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics Series. John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.11zah

Zahler, S. L. (2022). Measuring individual differences: A look at working memory. In K. Geeslin (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of SLA and Sociolinguistics, pp. 237-248. Routledge. Link to chapter

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. John Benjamins. 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. Link to article

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. Link to article

Submitted/In Progress

Fanning, C., Monaco, M., Melo, Y., & Zahler, S. L. (Under review). Possession in motion: A cross-dialectal study of transitive andar in Hispanic America.

Zahler, S.L. (Resubmitted). The relationship between cognitive constraints and probabilistic variation: Subject expression in Spanish.

Zahler, S. L., & Bonilla-Conejo, M. (In revisions). Individual differences in the production of morphological gender marking in second language Spanish by advanced learners.

Zahler, S. L. (In revisions). An evaluation of serial nonword recognition task characteristics on measuring phonological short-term memory.

In Prep

Zahler, S. L. & Bang, H. (Write-up stage). Adjective placement in Spanish blogs: Frequency, collocational, semantic, and processing constraints.

Zahler, S. L. (Write-up stage). The relationship between PSTM and VOT length.

Other Scholarly Activity

Zahler, S. L., Long, A. & Linford, B. (2023). Introduction. In S. L. Zahler, A. Long & B. Linford (Eds.), Study abroad and the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish. Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics. John Benjamins. doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.int

Selected Conference Presentations

Zahler, S. L., & Bang, H. “La colocación de los adjetivos en blogs en español: Restricciones semánticas y de procesamiento.” Paper presented at the combined 15th Spanish Linguistics in the Southeast and Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLISE/SLINKI), East Carolina University. February 2025.

Zahler, S. L., Daidone, D., & Kuder, E. (November 2025). “University Spanish instructors’ trill production within and outside of the language classroom.” Paper presented at the 52nd New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV), Florida International University and University of Miami, Miami, Florida. November 2025. Powerpoint.

Fanning, C., Monaco, M., Melo, Y., & Zahler, S. L. (April, 2024). “The evaluation of andar compared to llevar and tener in innovative transitive contexts.” Paper presented at the 11th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS11), University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.

Zahler, S. L. (March, 2024). “The relationship between PSTM and L2 pronunciation in advanced learners depends on the phonological structure.” Paper presented at Current Approaches to Second Language Phonology 2024, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Daidone, D., & Zahler, S. L. (February, 2024). “Future forms in instructor speech within the Spanish language classroom.” Paper presented at Spanish Linguistics in the Southeast (SLISE)/Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI), College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina. Powerpoint.

Fanning, C., Monaco, M., Melo, Y., & Zahler, S. L. (October, 2023) “The evaluation of andar as a transitive verb across varieties of Hispano-American Spanish.” Paper presented at the 2023 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Powerpoint.

Zahler, S. L. & Leguisamon, R. (November, 2022) “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. Powerpoint.

Thompson, C. & Zahler, S. L. (November, 2022) “Complementizer variation in ojalá + subordinate clauses in Puerto Rican Spanish”. Paper presented at the 2022 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Arizona State University, held virtually.

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. L. & 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.