My name is Tris Faulkner (@trisfaulkner) and I received a Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics, from Georgetown University, in 2021. In April of 2021, I defended my dissertation (titled: “A Systematic Investigation of the Spanish Subjunctive: Mood Variation in Subjunctive Clauses”), which was granted the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award (DDRI). I am currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Spanish Language and Literatures at Kalamazoo College, with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

My research investigates the semanto-pragmatics of “non-standard” grammars (e.g., non-standard variation between subjunctive and indicative), with the objective of helping to eliminate harmful and discriminatory ideas about “wrong”, “incorrect”, or “bad” language; that is to say, there’s no such thing as “bad” language! In my work (focused mainly on variation in mood, tense, and aspect), I focus on how the meanings of these forms are influenced by socio-pragmatic context. My investigations incorporate the use of corpora and human participants. Click here or see below to access my most recent articles:

• Faulkner, T. (2023a). Don’t Cry Over Spilled or Spilt Milk?: Nuanced Semanto-pragmatic Differences Between -ed and -t in English. International Journal of English Linguistics, 13(3).

• Faulkner, T. (2022c). Mood and Modal Concord in Spanish Directive Clauses. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 11(3).

• Faulkner, T. (2023 – print) (2022b online). On the Use of the Subjunctive with English Hope. International Journal of English Linguistics, 13(1).

• Faulkner, T. (2022a). The Two Spanish Subjunctives: The Required and Default Subjunctives. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 11(1).

• Faulkner, T. (2021b). A Systematic Investigation of the Spanish Subjunctive: Mood Variation in Subjunctive Clauses. Dissertation.

• Faulkner, T. (2021a). Prescriptively or Descriptively Speaking?: How Information Quality Influences Mood Variation in Spanish Emotive-factive Clauses. Pragmatics, 31(3).

Although most of my research has centered on Spanish or Romance, I also do work on English (see: here and here) and Jamaican Creole; please stay tuned for updates.

For more information on my research, teaching experience, or interests, please visit the links in the menu section above. If you would like to contact me, please use the following link: Contact. I am always looking to collaborate! I am also very active on Twitter, so please feel free to give me a follow!