Ramos, Michelle

    California State University  Estados Unidos

     

    From Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia completed her doctorate in linguistics at The Ohio State University. She resides in Southern California and works as a professor at California State University, San Marcos campus. There, she teaches courses in sociolinguistics, Spanish in the United States, Spanish in the Southwest United States, dialectology, methodology, Spanish for heritage speakers, among other courses. Dr. Ramos Pellicia is the co-founder and co-director of “Universidad sin Fronteras” (University without Borders). This collective evaluates and makes recommendations on university policies that can enhance the academic experience of undocumented students or those whose family members lack documents. Ramos Pellicia is the president of her union chapter, co-director of the Chicanx/Latinx caucus of the California Faculty Association, and Associate Vice President of CFA. Additionally, she serves as the Executive Director of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO).

     

    Lecture

    Discovering the Voice of Those Without a Voice: Linguistic Landscapes in the Hispanic World

     

    Public space is not a space that is neutral or indifferent to the people who inhabit it. The interpretation of public space involves knowledge of a set of rules and codes and, at the same time, a deep understanding of how these rules are implemented. For this reason, the linguistic landscape is an ideal tool that allows scholars to understand the complex and dynamic reality expressed by the messages that are displayed in it. This volume includes papers that follow different methodologies and analyze the messages displayed in the common space, either focusing on the semiotic features that accompany the linguistic, or emphasizing the commercial use of language. In this presentation we will discuss relevant examples stated in the book that demonstrate how speakers of minority varieties struggle to express themselves on equal terms. At the same time it is a call for the need for new studies that reflect how minority groups demand to be seen and refuse to be silenced, marginalized and eventually discarded.