SoLaS Lab Research

The Nature of Our Work

The SoLaS Lab investigates how people use and shape language across diverse social contexts. We examine language as it unfolds across different communities, identities, and contact situations, seeking to understand both the shared patterns that structure linguistic systems and the variable features that differentiate groups and individuals. Our research spans all levels of linguistic structure from sounds to discourse, and aims to explain how humans use language in socially meaningful ways.

Current Projects

1. English Spoken in Omaha

Omaha sits at the intersection of several major dialect regions, yet its local English varieties remain largely undescribed. This project documents how English is used across the city, with attention to variation, contact, and multilingual influences. By establishing a community-based baseline, we can situate Omaha within broader linguistic patterns of the Midwest and Plains. This work contributes much-needed data on an understudied region of the US linguistic landscape. Ongoing recruitment!

2. English and Cebuano Onomatopoieas

Onomatopoeia offers a window into how people connect everyday sounds with meaning and language. In this study, participants listen to environmental sounds, identify what they hear, describe the associations those sounds evoke, and produce imitative words. The project explores how hearing sensitivity, creativity, language background, and multilingual experience shape sound perception and linguistic expression, contributing to a broader understanding of how speakers of English and other languages transform sound into words. Ongoing recruitment!