I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Romance Languages at UGA. In 2014, I earned a B.A. in both Psychology and Spanish from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI. I earned a M.A. from the University of Georgia in Spanish (Linguistics) in 2016 and returned to UGA in Fall 2017 to pursue a doctoral degree in Romance Languages.
My general research interests include language contact, morphosyntactic variation, group L2 language acquisition, L3/Ln acquisition, and indigenous languages and cultures. In my Master's Thesis I conducted an empirical research study on the acquisition of Quechua mid-vowels by L1 English L2 Spanish learners during an abroad program in Cusco, Peru. My current dissertation project investigates the morphosyntactic outcomes of language contact between Spanish and Quechua-- two languages with vastly different linguistic typologies. This project has the wider objective of contributing to a model of language contact that has predictive power.
I am also currently the Instructor of Quechua at UGA for QUEC1001, QUEC1002, QUEC2001, and QUEC2002. If you are interested in taking a Quechua class, please click on the 'Quechua Program' link above or email me at sbigger@uga.edu. If you are interested in learning Quechua but are not able to take a class, you may attend our weekly virtual Quechua Conversation Table. All levels are welcome. Runasimita rimasunchis!
Research
Here are several projects I am currently working on:
- Morphosyntactic convergence in information structure and causative constructions in Andean Spanish (dissertation project)
- Hesitation markers in Quechua and Andean Spanish
- L3 acquisition of adjective-noun strings in Quechua and French
- L3 acquisition of Quechua mid-vowels by L1 English L2 Spanish learners
- Labels assigned to male versus female governors on Twitter
2020-2021, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
2020, Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant
2019, Tinker Graduate Field Research Award
2018, Willson Center Graduate Research Award
2015, Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship
2015, Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship
Selected Publications
Contribution to an edited volume
2022 (forthcoming). Language contact in the andes: Bidirectional grammatical outcomes of Spanish-Quechua contact, in Mutual Influence in Situations of Spanish Language Contact. Routledge.
