Category: People

Honors Students Present Sociolinguistic Research at UURAF

September 9, 2026

Over the course of the 2025-2026 academic year, Dr. Betsy Sneller and Dr. Suzanne Wagner led an Honors Research Seminar on the MI Diaries project for Honors undergraduate students at Michigan State. During this time, students of the seminar designed and executed original sociolinguistic research projects and presented their findings in poster format at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum in April 2026 (read more about UURAF and the linguistics and languages students who presented). Congratulations, Honors Seminar members! Lab member Lin Cabada also presented an independent research project that grew from an Honors Option paper they completed for Dr. Wagner's Language and Gender class in Fall 2025. Here's a list of the presenters and their poster titles: Mary Cavagnetto and Elle Jacobson / How do people talk about accents in Michigan’s Thumb and UP? / Betsy Sneller and Suzanne Wagner Chae Eun Park and Keira Wesley / Social perceptions of uh vs. um / Betsy Sneller and Suzanne Wagner Rachel Ross / “So, uhm, yeah”: A case study of uhm development between 5-9 years old / Betsy Sneller and Suzanne Wagner Lily Kwon and Bai Yang Clemens / Is “low-key” going low-key adverbial? / Suzanne Wagner and Betsy Sneller Connor Mason / A lowkey examination of lowkey in the MI Diaries corpus / Suzanne Wagner and Betsy Sneller (with assistance from Adam Barnhardt) Allison Phillips, Antony Tokrri, Jad Assaf / “Pretty” is pretty cool / Suzanne Wagner and Betsy Sneller (with assistance from Annan Kirk) Lin Cabada / Gender-marked occupational terms at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum / Suzanne Wagner Allison Phillips, Antony Tokrri, and Jad Assaf Bai Yang Clemens and Lily Kwon Mary Cavagnetto and Elle Jacobson Lin Cabada Connor Mason Keira Wesley Rachel Ross

Research / Undergraduates

Connor Mason Accepted to First American Dialect Society Research Incubator

September 4, 2026

Undergraduate Connor Mason's abstract investigating the syntax and sociolinguistics of Lowkey, "A Lowkey investigation of Lowkey," was recently accepted to the American Dialect Society's first Research Incubator. The Research Incubator is an opportunity to get feedback on work in progress for early-career researchers. Congratulations Connor!

Faculty / Research

MI Diaries is an example of “Arts and Humanities in Action”

August 21, 2026

The MI Diaries project was featured in an August 4, 2026 news story from the Michigan State University College of Arts and Letters. Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the College, underscores in this article that “The arts, culture, and humanities enrich our lives by helping us better understand ourselves and others, appreciate different perspectives, and find meaning and common ground in an increasingly divided world...They foster a stronger sense of belonging, strengthen our communities, and help ensure that Michigan remains a place where people want to build their futures.” MI Diaries plays an important role in these efforts: The College of Arts and Letters also is helping document and preserve Michigan’s linguistic heritage through MI Diaries, a project led by Betsy Sneller and Suzanne Wagner, both Associate Professors in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures. This multi-year study collects audio recordings and personal reflections from participants across the state, documenting changes in the lives and language of Michigan residents while creating a living archive of language, culture, identity, and everyday life. https://cal.msu.edu/news/arts-and-humanities-in-action-how-msus-college-of-arts-and-letters-is-shaping-michigans-future/

Read more about the article MI Diaries is an example of “Arts and Humanities in Action”

Betsy Sneller watches a child add a sticker to an MI Diaries poster at the MSU Science Festival.

Events / Faculty / Research

MI Diaries at MSU Science Fest 2026

May 13, 2026

On April 11th, the Sociolinguistics Lab's Michigan Diaries Project set up at MSU's annual Science Festival to talk to the public about sociolinguistics! In addition to answering people's questions about language and hyping them up to become participants for the Diaries project, we ran two informal studies throughout the day to gauge changes in time in Michiganders' preferred terms for a fizzy drink (pop, soda, or other), as well as the realization of Michiganders' pre-nasal /æ/ vowel (is the vowel in 'hand' the same as the one in 'cap'?) Professor Betsy Sneller helping visitors add to the Pop vs. Soda chart. Team member Connor Bechler giving the MI Diaries rundown to a curious prospective participant. Rush hour at the MI Diaries Science Fest booth.

Conferences / Events / Faculty / Graduate Students / Research

Michigan State Presenting at LSA 2026

December 2, 2025

Five MSU linguists (including Sociolinguistics Lab members Mofart Ayiega & Leah Nodar) will be presenting their work at the Linguistics Society of America’s annual conference, taking place this year in New Orleans from January 8th – 11th!

Please find their talk titles below:

Mofart Ayiega (co-authored with Dr. Suzanne Wagner) – Morphological Leveling of Noun Class Agreement in Urban Swahili
Dr. Leah Nodar – Twelve Variables of Africatown English in 1927 and 1979
Jingying Xu (co-authored with Dr. Cristina Schmitt):
- Beyond Truth Conditions: Context Modulates Telicity Interpretation
- Learning Telicity in Context: Developmental Evidence from Mandarin Children
Ellie Xia (co-authored with Dr. Alan Hezao Ke) – Tonal Marking of Telicity in Hakka: An Agree-Based Analysis
John Ryan (co-authored with Yaxuan Wang) – Reference, Aspect, and Event Completion in Mandarin Sentence Judgments

Click ‘Continue Reading’ for abstracts.

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