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College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Jim Michnowicz

JM
Headshot of Jim Michnowicz

Professor; Director of Graduate Programs

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Withers Hall 419

919-513-9999
https://sites.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/michnowicz/
View CV 

Bio

Dr. Jim Michnowicz is Professor of Hispanic linguistics at NC State University. He received his Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics at Penn State University in 2006, with a focus on language contact, variation and sociolinguistics. He has been on faculty at NC State since 2006, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Hispanic linguistics. In 2018, he received the College of Humanities & Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, and was inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State in 2019.

His research focuses on language contact with Spanish, both in Yucatan, Mexico and in North Carolina, and his publications examine a range of phonetic and morphosyntactic features in order to better understand the linguistic outcomes of different contexts of language and dialect contact. Other research interests include language shift and maintenance, along with systems of address forms in the Spanish-speaking world.

As of fall 2019, he also serves as the Director of Graduate Programs in the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures.

Office Hours

  • Tue: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
  • Wed: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Or By Appointment

Projects

  • The development of a new bilingual dialect of Spanish in NC (with Rebecca Ronquest and various students, NCSU)
  • A real time analysis of language change in Yucatan Spanish

Extension and Community Engagement

  • Community engagement at the North Carolina State Fair and the Fiesta del Pueblo
    • With the North Carolina Language and Life Project
    • Share research and debunk linguistic myths about Spanish in NC with both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking citizens at the events

Responsibilities

Director of Graduate Programs – Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures

Research Publications

Books

Peer-reviewed articles/chapters

Funded Research

  • The emergence and analysis of large bilingual speech communities (with Rebecca Ronquest and Robin Dodsworth)
    •  $4000 from the CHASS Faculty Research and Development Program (FRDP)
  • A pilot study of Spanish in Raleigh-Durham (with Rebecca Ronquest)
    • $4000 from the CHASS  Faculty Research and Development Program (FRPD)

Presentations

Recent presentations:

  • Michnowicz, Jim. “Real-time changes in Yucatan Spanish: the case of prosodic rhythm and final -m”. Presentation at the Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (HLL) Virtual Colloquium. June 2020 (not peer reviewed).
  • Michnowicz, Jim. “Spanish in the Southeast: Insights and future directions”. Invited plenary address at the Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, University of Georgia/Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA. April 2020 – postponed due to Covid-19.
  • Michnowicz, Jim. “Language contact in a newly forming community: Spanish in the Southeast”. Invited talk at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA. October 2019.
  • Bove, Kate & Jim Michnowicz. “Según dicen: Conjecture in a language contact situation”. Poster accepted at the 10 th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS) hosted by Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, Atlanta, GA. April 2020 – postponed due to Covid-19.
  • Michnowicz, Jim, Rebecca Ronquest, Bailey Ambrister, Hannah Bain, Nick Chisholm & Rebecca Greene “Attitudes toward inclusive language in NC Spanish”. Presentation at the Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference 2020 at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. February 2020.
  • Michnowicz, Jim, Rebecca Ronquest, Sarah Chetty, Stephanie Oliver & María Rodríguez. “Extending the Variable Swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast”. Presentation at the Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference 2019 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. February 2019.
  • Lucía Planchón & Jim Michnowicz. “A tale of two cities: palatal (de)voicing in Montevideo vs. Buenos Aires Spanish. Presentation at the Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference 2019 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. February 2019.
  • Michnowicz, Jim & Lucía Planchón. “Sheismo in Uruguayan Spanish: Not (yet) identical to Buenos Aires”. Presentation at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS) 2018 at the University of Texas – Austin, Austin, TX. October 2018.
  • Michnowicz, Jim & Vannessa Quintana Sarria. “Attitudes toward forms of address in the Spanish of Cali, Colombia”. Presentation at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS) 2018 at the University of Texas – Austin, Austin, TX. October 2018.
  • Michnowicz, Jim. “Convergence, Change and New Dialect Formation: The Past, Present and Future of Yucatan Spanish”. Presentation at the Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference 2018 at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. February 2018.
  • Ronquest, Rebecca, Jim Michnowicz, Eric Wilbanks & Claudia Cortés. “A Multi-variable Analysis of Spanish in the Southeast”. Poster presentation at the Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference 2018 at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. February 2018.

Education

Ph.D. Spanish Linguistics Penn State University 2006

M.A. Spanish Ohio University 1998

B.S.Ed. Spanish Education Ohio University 1996

Groups