My Research in 200 Words
I am interested in how Spanish language learners and native (i.e., expert) speakers express the same function (i.e., concept) in more than one way. This requires interdisciplinary work that connects second language (L2) acquisition and variationist sociolinguistics. From there, my research combines variationist and concept-oriented approaches. Consequently, I am interested in every form that speakers can use to fulfill a given morphosyntactic function, and not only the forms literature tells us they should or will use. I then consider what other elements in the sentence (i.e., linguistic factors) and what social characteristics of the speaker or situation (i.e., extralinguistic factors) make the speaker more likely to use one of the forms over the other(s). Learner sensitivity to such contextual factors reflects a more general ability to convey a comprehensible message in increasingly sophisticated ways in their L2 (i.e., their communicative competence).
These combined approaches require relatively large samples of data which are coded for a range of factors for statistical analysis, although I also generally analyze learners individually and, at times, on multiple instances (i.e., longitudinally). I research learners in the traditional classroom environment and in the study-abroad setting and have analyzed native speakers in their international locations of origin, along with those who have immigrated to the US.
My Research in 40 Words
My research in Hispanic Linguistics focuses on the intersection of second language (L2) acquisition and sociolinguistic variation. Specifically, I study the L2 acquisition of variable morphosyntactic structures, the impact of study abroad on acquisition, and native (i.e., expert) speaker morphosyntactic variation in Spanish.
Publications
(* = graduate student or former advisee co-author)
Edited Volume
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (Eds.). (under contract). Communicative Competence in a Second Language: Theory, Method, and Applications. London: Routledge. (Second Language Acquisition research series: series editors S. Gass & A. Mackey).
Refereed Journal Articles & Chapters in Edited Volumes
In press
Solon, M., & Kanwit, M. (accepted). New methods for tracking development of sociophonetic competence: Exploring a preference task for Spanish /d/ deletion. Applied Linguistics. (Advance article online ahead of print).
Kanwit, M., & *Berríos, J. (accepted). Usage-based approaches across disciplines: What corpora tell us about cognition. In M. Díaz-Campos & S. Balasch (Eds.), The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics. London: Wiley-Blackwell. (invited contribution)
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (accepted). Variable outcomes abroad: Exploring the role of pre-program proficiency in the development of Spanish future-time expression. In S. Zahler, A.Y. Long, & B. Linford (Eds.), Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
*Swain, A.K., *Berríos, J., & Kanwit, M. (accepted). Future-in-the-past variation in Seville and Caracas: ¿Cambiaría o iba a cambiar? In S. Fernández Cuenca, T. Judy, & L. Miller (Eds.), Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
2022
Chappell, W., & Kanwit, M. (2022). Do learners connect sociophonetic variation with regional and social characteristics? The case of L2 perception of Spanish aspiration. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44, 185-209. (Open Access full text).
Kanwit, M. (2022). Sociolinguistic competence: What we know so far and where we’re heading. In K. Geeslin (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics (pp. 30-44). London: Routledge. (Invited contribution.)
2021
*Naismith, B., & Kanwit, M. (2021). A corpus study of the English suffixes
-ness and -acy: Productivity, genre, and implications for L2 learning. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 115-137. (Open Access full text).
Kanwit, M., & *Berríos, J. (2021). No se sabía de que eso iba a pasar: Do lexical frequency and structural priming condition dequeísmo? In M. Díaz-Campos (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Variationist Approaches to Spanish (pp. 453-467). London: Routledge. (Invited contribution.)
Kanwit, M. (2021). Allowable temporal distances for future-time forms: The case of highly advanced L2 Spanish learners. In M. Menke & P. Malovrh (Eds.), Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, Challenges, and Possibilities (pp. 116-141). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. (Invited contribution.)
Geeslin, K., Gudmestad, A., Hasler Barker, M., Kanwit, M., Long, A.Y., & Solon, M. (2021). Sociolinguistic competence among heritage speakers of Spanish abroad: Key findings, critical gaps, and contributions to variationist theory. In R. Pozzi, T. Quan, & C. Escalante (Eds.), Heritage Speakers of Spanish and Study Abroad (pp. 13-32). London: Routledge.
2020
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K.L. (2020). Sociolinguistic competence and interpreting variable structures in a second language: A study of the copula contrast in native and second-language Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(4), 775-799.
Full text link: Cambridge Core
Kanwit, M., & *Terán, V. (2020a). Ideas buenas o buenas ideas: Phonological, semantic, and frequency effects on variable adjective ordering in rioplatense Spanish. Languages, 5(4), 65. Open Access full text. (Special issue: Revisiting Language Variation and Change: Looking at Metalinguistic Categories Through a Usage-Based Lens).
*Hadodo, M., & Kanwit, M. (2020). Menos masculino, demasiado infantil: How age and gender ideologies index sexuality in perception of diminutives in Madrid Spanish. Journal of Language and Sexuality, 9(2), 127-151.
Kanwit, M., & *Pisabarro Sarrió, S. (2020). Are the systems the same? Applying the comparative method to variable intensification in the Spanish and Catalan of Tarragona, Spain. Spanish in Context, 17(1), 58-83.
*Neumann, F., & Kanwit, M. (2020). Acquiring variable commands at home and abroad: Examining optatives and imperatives in L1 and L2 Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 13(1), 79-113.
Kanwit, M., & *Terán, V. (2020b). Proposing a tripartite intensifier system: Re, muy, and bien in Buenos Aires and Tucumán, Argentina. In D. Pascual y Cabo & I. Elola (Eds.), Current Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (pp. 253-272). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
2019
Kanwit, M. (2019). Beyond the present indicative: Lexical futures as indicators of development in L2 Spanish. Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 481-501.
2018
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K. (2018). Exploring lexical effects in second language interpretation: The case of mood in Spanish adverbial clauses. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 579-603.
Full text link: Cambridge Core
Kanwit, M. (2018). Variation in second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics (pp. 716-736). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Invited contribution.)
Kanwit, M., & Quesada, M.L. (2018). Learner and native-speaker differences in the acceptability of gustar-type psychological verbs in Spanish. IRAL (International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching), 56(3), 279-313.
Kanwit, M., *Elias, V., & *Clay, R. (2018). Acquiring intensifier variation abroad: exploring muy and bien in Spain and Mexico. Foreign Language Annals, 51(2), 455- 471.
*Nemogá, M., & Kanwit, M. (2018). Analyzing the production of a non-standard form: Variable use of preterit andar in bogotano Spanish. Sociolinguistic Studies,12(3-4), 395-417.
*Terán, V., & Kanwit, M. (2018). Variable past-time expression across multiple tasks in Tucumán, Argentina. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada / Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 31(2), 605-637.
Geeslin, K., Gudmestad, A., Kanwit, M., Linford, B., Long, A.Y., Schmidt, L., & Solon, M. (2018). Sociolinguistic competence and the acquisition of speaking. In M.R. Alonso Alonso (Ed.), Speaking in a Second Language (pp. 1-25). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
*Neumann, F., & Kanwit, M. (2018). New perspectives on automatic and morphophonological alternations: Harmonic processes in two Peninsular varieties of Spanish. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 7(1), 97-112.
Kanwit, M. (2018/2014). Encantado de conocerte virtualmente: Native/non-native speaker electronic chats in Spanish. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 33(2), 59-90.
2017
Kanwit, M. (2017). What we gain by combining variationist and concept-oriented approaches: The case of acquiring Spanish future-time expression. Language Learning, 67(2), 461-498.
Kanwit, M., *Terán, V., & *Pisabarro Sarrió, S. (2017). Un fenómeno bien curioso: New methods for analyzing variable intensification across four dialects of Spain and Argentina. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10(2), 259-295.
2015
Kanwit, M., Geeslin, K.L., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Study abroad and the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain. Probus, 27(2), 307-348.
Kanwit, M. (2015). The role of discourse topic in evidentiality marking: Variable (de)queísmo in Caracas. eHumanista/IVITRA, 8, 446-470. (Invited contribution to special issue: Approaches to Evidentiality in Romance).
2014
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K. (2014). The interpretation of Spanish subjunctive and indicative forms in adverbial clauses: A cross-sectional study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36(3), 487-533.
Solon, M., & Kanwit, M. (2014). The emergence of future verbal morphology in Spanish as a foreign language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 7(1), 115-148.
2013
Kanwit, M. (2013). L1 child acquisition of future expression in madrileño Spanish: A variationist study. In J.E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 222-237). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (2013). Acquiring variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico. In J.E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 206-221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Geeslin, K.L., Fafulas, S., & Kanwit, M. (2013). Acquiring geographically-variable norms of use: The case of the present perfect in Mexico and Spain. In C. Howe, S. Blackwell, & M. Quesada (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 205-220). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
2012
Kanwit, M. (2012). Discourse topic and (de)queísmo: A variationist study of the Spanish of Caracas. IU Working Papers in Linguistics, 12, 01.
I am interested in how Spanish language learners and native (i.e., expert) speakers express the same function (i.e., concept) in more than one way. This requires interdisciplinary work that connects second language (L2) acquisition and variationist sociolinguistics. From there, my research combines variationist and concept-oriented approaches. Consequently, I am interested in every form that speakers can use to fulfill a given morphosyntactic function, and not only the forms literature tells us they should or will use. I then consider what other elements in the sentence (i.e., linguistic factors) and what social characteristics of the speaker or situation (i.e., extralinguistic factors) make the speaker more likely to use one of the forms over the other(s). Learner sensitivity to such contextual factors reflects a more general ability to convey a comprehensible message in increasingly sophisticated ways in their L2 (i.e., their communicative competence).
These combined approaches require relatively large samples of data which are coded for a range of factors for statistical analysis, although I also generally analyze learners individually and, at times, on multiple instances (i.e., longitudinally). I research learners in the traditional classroom environment and in the study-abroad setting and have analyzed native speakers in their international locations of origin, along with those who have immigrated to the US.
My Research in 40 Words
My research in Hispanic Linguistics focuses on the intersection of second language (L2) acquisition and sociolinguistic variation. Specifically, I study the L2 acquisition of variable morphosyntactic structures, the impact of study abroad on acquisition, and native (i.e., expert) speaker morphosyntactic variation in Spanish.
Publications
(* = graduate student or former advisee co-author)
Edited Volume
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (Eds.). (under contract). Communicative Competence in a Second Language: Theory, Method, and Applications. London: Routledge. (Second Language Acquisition research series: series editors S. Gass & A. Mackey).
Refereed Journal Articles & Chapters in Edited Volumes
In press
Solon, M., & Kanwit, M. (accepted). New methods for tracking development of sociophonetic competence: Exploring a preference task for Spanish /d/ deletion. Applied Linguistics. (Advance article online ahead of print).
Kanwit, M., & *Berríos, J. (accepted). Usage-based approaches across disciplines: What corpora tell us about cognition. In M. Díaz-Campos & S. Balasch (Eds.), The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics. London: Wiley-Blackwell. (invited contribution)
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (accepted). Variable outcomes abroad: Exploring the role of pre-program proficiency in the development of Spanish future-time expression. In S. Zahler, A.Y. Long, & B. Linford (Eds.), Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
*Swain, A.K., *Berríos, J., & Kanwit, M. (accepted). Future-in-the-past variation in Seville and Caracas: ¿Cambiaría o iba a cambiar? In S. Fernández Cuenca, T. Judy, & L. Miller (Eds.), Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
2022
Chappell, W., & Kanwit, M. (2022). Do learners connect sociophonetic variation with regional and social characteristics? The case of L2 perception of Spanish aspiration. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44, 185-209. (Open Access full text).
Kanwit, M. (2022). Sociolinguistic competence: What we know so far and where we’re heading. In K. Geeslin (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics (pp. 30-44). London: Routledge. (Invited contribution.)
2021
*Naismith, B., & Kanwit, M. (2021). A corpus study of the English suffixes
-ness and -acy: Productivity, genre, and implications for L2 learning. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 115-137. (Open Access full text).
Kanwit, M., & *Berríos, J. (2021). No se sabía de que eso iba a pasar: Do lexical frequency and structural priming condition dequeísmo? In M. Díaz-Campos (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Variationist Approaches to Spanish (pp. 453-467). London: Routledge. (Invited contribution.)
Kanwit, M. (2021). Allowable temporal distances for future-time forms: The case of highly advanced L2 Spanish learners. In M. Menke & P. Malovrh (Eds.), Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, Challenges, and Possibilities (pp. 116-141). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. (Invited contribution.)
Geeslin, K., Gudmestad, A., Hasler Barker, M., Kanwit, M., Long, A.Y., & Solon, M. (2021). Sociolinguistic competence among heritage speakers of Spanish abroad: Key findings, critical gaps, and contributions to variationist theory. In R. Pozzi, T. Quan, & C. Escalante (Eds.), Heritage Speakers of Spanish and Study Abroad (pp. 13-32). London: Routledge.
2020
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K.L. (2020). Sociolinguistic competence and interpreting variable structures in a second language: A study of the copula contrast in native and second-language Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(4), 775-799.
Full text link: Cambridge Core
Kanwit, M., & *Terán, V. (2020a). Ideas buenas o buenas ideas: Phonological, semantic, and frequency effects on variable adjective ordering in rioplatense Spanish. Languages, 5(4), 65. Open Access full text. (Special issue: Revisiting Language Variation and Change: Looking at Metalinguistic Categories Through a Usage-Based Lens).
*Hadodo, M., & Kanwit, M. (2020). Menos masculino, demasiado infantil: How age and gender ideologies index sexuality in perception of diminutives in Madrid Spanish. Journal of Language and Sexuality, 9(2), 127-151.
Kanwit, M., & *Pisabarro Sarrió, S. (2020). Are the systems the same? Applying the comparative method to variable intensification in the Spanish and Catalan of Tarragona, Spain. Spanish in Context, 17(1), 58-83.
*Neumann, F., & Kanwit, M. (2020). Acquiring variable commands at home and abroad: Examining optatives and imperatives in L1 and L2 Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 13(1), 79-113.
Kanwit, M., & *Terán, V. (2020b). Proposing a tripartite intensifier system: Re, muy, and bien in Buenos Aires and Tucumán, Argentina. In D. Pascual y Cabo & I. Elola (Eds.), Current Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (pp. 253-272). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
2019
Kanwit, M. (2019). Beyond the present indicative: Lexical futures as indicators of development in L2 Spanish. Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 481-501.
2018
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K. (2018). Exploring lexical effects in second language interpretation: The case of mood in Spanish adverbial clauses. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 579-603.
Full text link: Cambridge Core
Kanwit, M. (2018). Variation in second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics (pp. 716-736). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Invited contribution.)
Kanwit, M., & Quesada, M.L. (2018). Learner and native-speaker differences in the acceptability of gustar-type psychological verbs in Spanish. IRAL (International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching), 56(3), 279-313.
Kanwit, M., *Elias, V., & *Clay, R. (2018). Acquiring intensifier variation abroad: exploring muy and bien in Spain and Mexico. Foreign Language Annals, 51(2), 455- 471.
*Nemogá, M., & Kanwit, M. (2018). Analyzing the production of a non-standard form: Variable use of preterit andar in bogotano Spanish. Sociolinguistic Studies,12(3-4), 395-417.
*Terán, V., & Kanwit, M. (2018). Variable past-time expression across multiple tasks in Tucumán, Argentina. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada / Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 31(2), 605-637.
Geeslin, K., Gudmestad, A., Kanwit, M., Linford, B., Long, A.Y., Schmidt, L., & Solon, M. (2018). Sociolinguistic competence and the acquisition of speaking. In M.R. Alonso Alonso (Ed.), Speaking in a Second Language (pp. 1-25). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
*Neumann, F., & Kanwit, M. (2018). New perspectives on automatic and morphophonological alternations: Harmonic processes in two Peninsular varieties of Spanish. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 7(1), 97-112.
Kanwit, M. (2018/2014). Encantado de conocerte virtualmente: Native/non-native speaker electronic chats in Spanish. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, 33(2), 59-90.
2017
Kanwit, M. (2017). What we gain by combining variationist and concept-oriented approaches: The case of acquiring Spanish future-time expression. Language Learning, 67(2), 461-498.
Kanwit, M., *Terán, V., & *Pisabarro Sarrió, S. (2017). Un fenómeno bien curioso: New methods for analyzing variable intensification across four dialects of Spain and Argentina. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10(2), 259-295.
2015
Kanwit, M., Geeslin, K.L., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Study abroad and the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain. Probus, 27(2), 307-348.
Kanwit, M. (2015). The role of discourse topic in evidentiality marking: Variable (de)queísmo in Caracas. eHumanista/IVITRA, 8, 446-470. (Invited contribution to special issue: Approaches to Evidentiality in Romance).
2014
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K. (2014). The interpretation of Spanish subjunctive and indicative forms in adverbial clauses: A cross-sectional study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36(3), 487-533.
Solon, M., & Kanwit, M. (2014). The emergence of future verbal morphology in Spanish as a foreign language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 7(1), 115-148.
2013
Kanwit, M. (2013). L1 child acquisition of future expression in madrileño Spanish: A variationist study. In J.E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 222-237). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (2013). Acquiring variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico. In J.E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 206-221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Geeslin, K.L., Fafulas, S., & Kanwit, M. (2013). Acquiring geographically-variable norms of use: The case of the present perfect in Mexico and Spain. In C. Howe, S. Blackwell, & M. Quesada (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 205-220). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
2012
Kanwit, M. (2012). Discourse topic and (de)queísmo: A variationist study of the Spanish of Caracas. IU Working Papers in Linguistics, 12, 01.
