Laura Callahan

Professor Callahan has taught in California, Michigan, and New York, at the adult education, community college, and university levels. Most of her experience has been at large public institutions, such as San José State University (SJSU), U.C. Berkeley, and Michigan State University (MSU). She is currently an Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at The City College, CUNY, where she served as Acting Chairperson for the calendar year 2011. During that time she worked closely with the College administration to ensure continued excellence in foreign and heritage language instruction at CCNY within the new Pathways curriculum. In Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 she organized an interdepartmental lecture series entitled Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Language and Communication. Professor Callahan is a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society (RISLUS), housed in the M.A./Ph.D. Program in Linguistics at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Ph.D. Program in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages at the Graduate Center.

This section was last updated on May 12, 2013.

Ph.D., Hispanic Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley

M.A., Spanish, San José State University

B.A., Spanish, San José State University

This section was last updated on March 11, 2013.

Endangered and Heritage Languages: Issues in Maintenance and Revitalization (CCNY)
English as a Second Language (Century School of Languages)
Introduction to Spanish Linguistics (U.C. Berkeley, CCNY)
Introduction to Spanish Phonology (CUNY Graduate Center)
Language and Identity (CUNY Graduate Center)
Language and Intercultural Communication (CUNY Graduate Center)
Language and Linguistics: Introduction to the Scientific Study of Language (U.C. Berkeley)
Linguistic and Cultural Issues in Teaching Spanish (CCNY, CUNY Graduate Center)
Linguistic Approaches to Literature (CCNY)
Spanish as a Foreign Language (SJSU, San José Metropolitan Adult Ed. Program, Mission & Ohlone Colleges, U.C. Berkeley, MSU, CCNY)
Spanish Composition (CCNY)
Spanish Conversation (U.C. Berkeley)
Spanish Dialectology and Sociolinguistics (CCNY)
Spanish for Heritage Speakers (U.C. Berkeley)
Spanish in Contact in the U.S. (CCNY)
Spanish in Contact Worldwide (CCNY)
Spanish Morphology and Syntax (MSU, CCNY)
Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (MSU, CCNY)

This section was last updated on June 17, 2013.

Professor Callahan's research has focused on codeswitching, language attitudes, communication between native and non-native speakers of Spanish, and heritage language maintenance. Recent presentation venues include the 6th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS6), Multilingual 2.0?, the Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society (RISLUS) Research Forum 2012, the 1st International Pragmatics Conference of the Americas/ 5th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics, the 24th Conference on Spanish in the United States/ 9th Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, and the 19th Annual Conference on Language, Interaction, and Social Organization. Upcoming conferences include (tentatively) the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. 

This section was last updated on June 17, 2013.

Single-authored books

Spanish and English in U.S. Service Encounters. Palgrave Macmillan. 2009.

Spanish/English Codeswitching in a Written Corpus. John Benjamins. 2004.

Edited volume 

Spanish and Portuguese Across Time, Place, and Borders. Palgrave Macmillan. In preparation. Contributors, in alphabetical order: Laura Callahan (The City College and Graduate Center, CUNY); Ana M. Carvalho (University of Arizona); Magdalena Coll (Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Anna Hiller (Idaho State University); Orlando R. Kelm (University of Texas, Austin); Vicente Lledó-Guillem (Hofstra University); Simo K. Määttä (University of Jyväskylä, Finland); Alfredo Cesar Melo (University of Chicago); Martha Mendoza (Florida Atlantic University); Sonia Montes Romanillos (Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City); Ricardo Muñoz Martín (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain); Israel Sanz-Sánchez (West Chester University); Juan A. Sempere Martínez (San José State University); Rakhel Villamil-Acera (Adelphi University).

Translation of a book

Translated from the Spanish. Menéndez de Avilés and La Florida. Chronicles of His Expeditions (Menéndez de Avilés y la Florida: crónicas de sus expediciones. Edwin Mellen Press 2006). 407 pages. Edition, notes, and introduction by Juan Carlos Mercado. Edwin Mellen Press. 2010. 

Refereed articles 

Requests for Money on Public Transportation: Saving Face for Speaker and Hearers. Prisma Social. 2013, 10: Forthcoming.

Workplace Requests in Spanish and English: A Case Study of Email Communication between Two Supervisors and a Subordinate. Southwest Journal of Linguistics. 2011 (released summer 2012), 30-1: 27-56.

Asking for a Letter of Recommendation in Spanish and English: A Pilot Study of Face Strategies. Hispania. 2011, 94-1: 171-183.

Speaking with (Dis)Respect: A Study of Reactions to Mock Spanish. Language and Intercultural Communication. 2010, 10-4: 299-317.

U.S. Latinos’ Use of Written Spanish: Realities and Aspirations. Heritage Language Journal. 2010, 7-1: 1-27.

Accommodation to Outgroup Members’ Use of an Ingroup Language: A Comparison of Service Encounters In Person and Over the Telephone.  International Multilingual Research Journal. 2009, 3: 1-15.

El uso del acento ortográfico en el español de los Estados Unidos, América Latina, y España: Normas periodísticas. Itinerarios: Revista de estudios lingüísticos, literarios, históricos y antropológicos. 2008, 7: 187-198.

Spanish/English Codeswitching in Service Encounters: Accommodation to the Customer's Language Choice and Perceived Linguistic Affiliation. Southwest Journal of Linguistics. 2007, 26-1: 15-38.

Student Perceptions of Native and Non-Native Speaker Language Instructors: A Comparison of ESL and Spanish. Sintagma. Revista de Lingüística. 2006, 18: 19-49.

English or Spanish?! Language Accommodation in Urban Service Encounters. Intercultural Pragmatics. 2006, 3-1: 29-53.

'Talking Both Languages': 20 Perspectives on the Use of Spanish and English Inside and Outside the Workplace. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 2005, 26-4: 275-295.

The Role of Register in Spanish-English Codeswitching in Prose. The Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe. 2004, 27-1: 12-25.

Native Speakers' Attitudes Toward the Public Use of Spanish by Non-Native Speakers: From George W. to J. Lo. Southwest Journal of Linguistics. 2004, 23-1: 1-28.   

Codeswitching in Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Carlota Fainberg: Determiner Gender and Noun Phrase Status. Sintagma. Revista de Lingüística. 2002, 14: 21-37.

The Matrix Language Frame Model and Spanish/English Codeswitching in Fiction. Language & Communication. 2002, 22-1: 1-16.

Metalinguistic References in a Spanish/English Corpus. Hispania. 2001, 84-3: 417-427.   

Forms of Address in the Popular Press: A Comparison of Spain, Mexico and the United States.  Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics. 2000, 25: 53-72.

Article in conference proceedings

Pre-imposition vs. In Situ Negotiation of  Group and Individual Identities. Critical Multilingualism Studies. 2012, 1-1: 57-73.

Book chapters

Los latinos de los Estados Unidos y el uso del español escrito: Realidades y aspiraciones. (Translation and revision of: L.Callahan. U.S. Latinos' use of written Spanish: Realities and aspirations. Heritage Language Journal. 2010, 7-1: 1-27). In El español en los Estados Unidos: E Pluribus Unum? Enfoques multidisciplinarios. Domnita Dumitrescu and Gerardo Piña-Rosales, eds. New York: Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE). 307-338. 2013.

Facework in female to female service encounters between native and non-native speakers of Spanish in the U.S. In Spanish and Portuguese Across Time, Place, and Borders. Laura Callahan, ed. Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming.

Introduction. In Spanish and Portuguese Across Time, Place, and Borders. Laura Callahan, ed. Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming.

Selected book reviews

The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication. Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott F. Kiesling, and Elizabeth S. Rangel, eds. 2012. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Linguist List. Vol. 23-4797. 17 November 2012.

Negotiating Solidarity: A Social-Linguistic Approach to Job Interviews. Caroline Lipovsky. Newcastle, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Linguist List. Vol. 22-2871. 13 July 2011.

Multidisciplinary Approaches to Code Switching. Ludmila Isurin, Donald Winford, and Kees de Bot, eds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Modern Language Journal. 2011, 95-2: 322-323.

Historical (Im)politeness. Jonathan Culpeper and Dániel Z. Kádár, eds. Bern: Peter Lang. Linguist List. Vol. 21-2964. 17 July 2010.

Actos de habla y cortesía en español. María E. Placencia and Diana Bravo, eds. 2009. Munich: LINCOM Europa. Linguist List. Vol. 21-415. 26 January 2010.

Second Language Identities. David Block. 2009. London: Continuum. Linguist List. Vol. 20-2672. 3 August 2009.

La lengua que heredamos: Curso de español para bilingües. 6th ed. Sarah Marqués. 2009. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; ¡Sí se puede! Un curso transicional para hispanohablantes. María Carreira and Michelle Geoffrion-Vinci, 2008. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (Double review) Modern Language Journal. 2009, 93: 465-467.

Heritage Language Education: A New Field Emerging. Donna M. Brinton, Olga Kagan and Susan Bauckus, eds. 2007. London: Routledge. Linguist List. Vol. 19-3345. 3 November 2008.   

Developing Contrastive Pragmatics: Interlanguage and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Martin Pütz and JoAnne Neff-van Aertselaer, eds. 2008. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Linguist List. Vol. 19-2773. 11 September 2008.
 
Healthcare Interpreting. Franz Pöchhacker and Miriam Shlesinger, eds. 2007. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Linguist List. Vol. 19-115. 10 January 2008.

Intercultural Discourse and Communication: The Essential Readings. Scott F. Kiesling and Christina Bratt Paulston, eds. 2005. London: Blackwell. Linguist List. Vol. 16-2192. 17 July 2005.

The Language, Ethnicity and Race Reader. Roxy Harris and Ben Rampton, eds. 2003. London: Routledge. Linguist List. Vol. 16-24. 10 January 2005.    
 
Spanish/English Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics. 2nd ed. M. Stanley Whitley. 2002. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Hispania. 2004, 87-3: 505-506.

Critical Pedagogy. Political Approaches to Language and Intercultural Communication. Alison Phipps and Manuela Guilherme, eds. 2004. Clevedon, U.K.: Multilingual Matters. Linguist List. Vol. 15-1718. 4 June 2004.

At War with Words. Mirjana N. Dedaic and Daniel N. Nelson, eds. 2003. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Linguist List. Vol. 15-655. 21 February 2004.     

Estudios de Lingüística, 15. Susana Pastor Cesteros and Ventura Salazar García, eds. 2001. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante. Hispania. 2003, 86-1: 73-75.

Dynamics of Language Contact: English and Immigrant Languages. Michael Clyne. 2003. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Linguist List. Vol. 14-2490. 19 September 2003.

Gente de Cervantes: Historia humana del idioma español. Juan Ramón Lodares. 2001. Madrid: Taurus. Críticas. 2002, 2-4: 46.

Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. Peter Auer, ed. 1999. New York: Routledge. Linguist List. Vol. 12-1872. 22 July 2001.

Research on Spanish in the United States: Linguistic Issues and Challenges. Ana Roca, ed. 2000. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. Linguist List. Vol. 12-1391. 21 May 2001.
 
At War with Diversity: US Language Policy in an Age of Anxiety. James Crawford. 2000. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Linguist List. Vol. 11-2711. 14 December 2000.

This section was last updated on May 14, 2013.

Professional Development

ACTFL Modified Oral Proficiency Interview Assessment Workshop. Stanford Language Center. May 3-4, 2013.

Certificate, Translation Studies, National Hispanic University (San José, California). 1992-1993.