I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Colorado Boulder, and Affiliate Faculty in the Departments of Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, Women & Gender Studies and LGBTQ Studies. I’m currently the Linguistics Honors Program advisor as well as the advisor for the Sociocultural, Anthropological, and Interactional Linguistics (SAIL) undergraduate major track.

I’m a sociocultural linguist and linguistic anthropologist, interested in the roles of lingusitic and embodied practice in the performance and construction of marginalized identity in communities of queer/trans and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) individuals. I’m interested in exploring the relationship between normative social structures and individual agency, especially when it comes to the agency of marginalized individuals.

One of my main strands of research explores the linguistic and embodied practices of transgender and non-binary individuals. My primary project explores the role of language and the body in the articulation of non-normative gender among a community of radical drag queens in San Francisco, many of whom identify as non-binary. I explore the meaningful interaction between visual presentation and linguistic performance in the articulation of non-normative gender among these queens.

A related strand of research has explored the role of the cisgender listening subject in the ways trans language is perceived, described, and characterized. Building off of Inoue’s (2003) concept of the “listening subject”, I argue that the cisgender listening subject represents a dominant ideological position in society that expects language to be gender-normative, and marginalizes the linguistic practices of individuals perceived to deviate from these normative expectations. I have explored this concept in my own work, as well as in collaboration with other scholars in trans linguistics, including joint work with Ariana Steele on nonbinary language and with Dani Heffernan on the language of transwomen.

I am also interested in how intersectional identity connects with linguistic practice in communities of individuals who are racialized in particular ways. In collaborations with colleague Sharese King, we explore how phonetic variation illuminates intersections between race, place, gender, and sexuality in various communities.

C O N T A C T :       jeca9599@colorado.edu