Title: Yoojin Kang Awarded NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award

1.      What is your research concentration?

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Linguistics. My research concentration is sociophonetics, focusing on how linguistic features are linked to social meaning. My primary research interest is how mobile speakers acquire or resist features of new varieties to understand how linguistic structures are represented, processed in people’s minds, and what mental mechanisms underlie the process of dialect acquisition.

2.      How did you become interested in this field?

I worked on Dr. Jennifer Nycz’s NSF project, Second Dialect Acquisition and Stylistic Variation in Mobile Speakers. My years as a research assistant for Dr. Nycz sparked my interest in the field of second dialect acquisition. And also, the fact that this field is a fairly new focus in sociolinguistic research made me want to contribute to the literature on second dialect acquisition.

3.      Can you tell us about your dissertation?

I am currently working on my dissertation which investigates second dialect acquisition by mobile speakers relocating between two regions, one urban and characterized by a prestigious variety, and one rural, whose variety is stigmatized. I am particularly interested in the linguistic and social factors affecting changes in dialect features and the mental mechanisms underlying the process of second dialect acquisition.

4.      What’s one piece of advice you would give to those starting in your research concentration?

I recommend finding professors whose research interests line up closely with yours and finding a way to work with those professors. I am blessed with an excellent adviser who supports my research interests and has provided an opportunity to engage with research questions and methodologies in the field of sociophonetics. By working with those professors, your research interests will evolve and will guide you in the right direction.