HUMBOLDT KOLLEG 2023
Quito, Ecuador | Septiembre 12-15
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
García, Christina
Saint Louis University 
She is a professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of San Luis. Her main areas of research are phonetics and sociolinguistics, examining how sounds come to have social meaning and contribute to the formation of regional identities. She has published articles and chapters on Ecuadorian Spanish and is the co-editor of Ecuadorian Spanish in the 21st Century: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.kichwa/quechua.
Lecture
Attitudes toward Ecuadorian Spanish in the United States
While numerous investigations focus on linguistic attitudes within prevailing Spanish-speaking communities in the United States (Alfaraz, 2018; Callesano & Carter, 2019), few explore the situation of minority Spanish-speaking communities (Hermosillo, 2018; Potowski & Matts, 2008; Zentella, 1990). This research investigates the process of identity and negotiation among Ecuadorians living in the United States, specifically in Denver, Colorado, and St. Louis, Missouri, where they constitute a minority group and engage more with Spanish speakers of other dialects than with their own compatriots. Our findings show a restricted exposure of the Ecuadorian dialect variant. Participants state that upon initial encounters with fellow Spanish speakers, those individuals frequently assume they are from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, or another unspecified country. Nevertheless, a majority of respondents do not feel excluded in their mixed-origin Spanish-speaking communities. Above all, participants distinguish themselves from the majority population (particularly Mexican) with certain pride, asserting their dialectal and national identity.