Research

My primary area of research is language variation and change, focusing on structural phenomena in the Romance Languages. More generally, I investigate the forces that shape language use and the subsequent effect that these forces have on how language evolves. The most recent extension of this research involves analyzed data from social media for evidence of language change. I am also involved in work related to Spanish/Quechua contact. For a full list of research-related goings on, please see my current CV.

Research Interests

• Language variation and language change

• (Variationist) Sociolinguistics

• Spanish/Quechua Contact

📢 RECENT/UPCOMING 📢

• The journal Maya America is now accepting submissions for a special issue: “Perspectives on the Indigenous Americas: Past, Present, and Future". More information regarding this issue can be found here.

• Plenary talk at the 28th Annual Ohio State University Congress on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (OSUCHiLL)

• Paper at upcoming conference: Spanish in Society, Bristol, UK; Title: "Expressive interrogation in Portuguese and Spanish" (June 2025)

• Fafulas, S., Howe, C., Orozco, R., Cipria, A., O’Rourke, E., Moreno, N., & Van Hoose, M. J. (2024). The SEC Spanish Consortium: Foundations for Linguistic Gratuity and Language Documentation Among Latinx Populations in New Destination Communities of the U.S. South. Languages, 9(11), 354. DOI

  • Note This paper is part of a Special Issue titled “Spanish in the US: A Sociolinguistic Approach”, edited by Dr. Alberto Pastor (Southern Methodist University). Gracias a Alberto por su ayuda y su paciencia.

• Sarah Hubbel, Bethany Bateman McDonald, and Chad, Howe. October. Placeholder na in Quechua/Spanish bilingual speech. Placeholders in East and West.

  • We presented a version of this research at the 2024 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium

• Lívio, C., & Howe, C. (2024). Text Mining Approaches to Language Use in Social Media: The Case of Portuguese Bué. Languages, 9(3), 82. DOI

  • Note This paper is part of a Special Issue titled “Investigating Language Variation and Change in Portuguese”, edited by Dr. Patrícia Amaral (Indiana University). Thanks to Patrícia for her efforts in making this collection happen.