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Jim Michnowicz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Spanish Dialectology, sociolinguistics, phonology Research: My research interests center on the ways in which languages - Spanish in particular - vary across space (dialectology), social groups (sociolinguistics), and time (historical linguistics). I'm particularly interested in 'non-standard' varieties of Spanish, and their relationship to questions of regional identity versus the overt prestige of  'standard' Spanish. I'm currently focused on a couple of primary areas (although I'm always looking for more): Yucatan Spanish: the overall standardization of the dialect, compared with linguistic expressions of loyalty to the patria chica, especially among young speakers. Also, the (playful) stereotyping of traditional forms in popular culture, and the possible effects on the future of the dialect. I'm also interested in the role of language contact with Mayan in the development of Yucatan Spanish. Hear samples of Yucatan Spanish here (requires Quicktime plugin - best seen in Internet Explorer). I am also interested in morpho-syntactic correlates of speaker identity, for example with the use of voseo in several areas of Latin America (specifically El Salvador - with Soraya Place; and Chile - with Kelley Bishop). Specific projects underway: The aspiration of /ptk/ in Yucatan Spanish (with graduate student Lindsey Carpenter) Intonation in two contact varieties of Mexican Spanish: Chipilo and Yucatan (with Hilary Barnes, Fayetteville State University) A sociolinguistic study of Spanish-Zapotec bilinguals (with Amanda Boomershine, UNC-Wilmington) Finally, I direct the Corpus del español de Raleigh-Durham (CERD). Students should feel free to contact me if interested in working on a research project.