CV

Hi all- You can find my CV here: CV 6_11_19_wo_address. I’ve provided links to many of the publications on my Papers and Publications page. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to request any materials.

Mary Elizabeth Kohn

Manhattan, KS 66502
Cell (828) 337-4003
kohn@ksu.edu • maryekohn@gmail.com
http://www.maryekohn.com

EMPLOYMENT

2013 – 2017 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Kansas State University.

2017 – present Associate Professor, Department of English, Kansas State University.

EDUCATION

PhD in Linguistics 2013
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dissertation: “Adolescent Ethnolinguistic Stability and Change: A Longitudinal Study”
Advisors: Dr. Elliot Moreton, UNC Chapel Hill, and Dr. Erik Thomas, NCSU

MA in English 2008
North Carolina State University
Thesis: “Latino English in North Carolina: A Comparison of Emerging Communities”
Advisor: Dr. Agnes Bolonyai, NCSU

BA, Honors, Summa cum Laude in English and Spanish 2002
Appalachian State University
Honors Thesis: “Mapping the Invisible: the Political Use of Postmodernism in Jeanette Winterson’s Art and Lies”
Advisor: Dr. Kristina Groover, ASU

TEACHING

Kansas State University

English 430: Structure of the English Language
English 757: Language and Society
English 700: Old English
English 790: History of the English Language
English 490: Development of the English Language
English 476: American English
English 210: Language and Gender

North Carolina State University

English 327: Language and Gender
English 325: Spoken and Written Traditions of American English

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Linguistics 415: Language and Ethnicity
Linguistics 101: Introduction to Linguistics

Hickory Public Schools: Hickory, NC

Teacher: Honors Spanish IV, Spanish III, Spanish I

GRANTS AND AWARDS

  • Center for Engagement and Community Development grant,  “Building
    Bilingual Community Partnerships to Promote Social and Economic Wellbeing”
  • Faculty Enhancement Grant
  • Big 12 Grant
  • FDA/ USRG Faculty Development Grant
  • Peer Review of Teaching Program: K-State
  • Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship Award alternate
  • Graduate Education Advancement Board Carolina Impact Award
  • American Dialect Society Travel Award 2015
  • American Dialect Society Presidential Award 2012
  • Future Faculty Fellowship Program: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2010
  • Chancellor’s Scholarship: Appalachian State University 1999-2002
  • Outstanding Watauga College Student: Award for Academic Performance in Watauga College: Appalachian State University 2001
  • Jeni Gray Memorial English Scholarship for Academic Achievement, Dedication, Community Contributions, and Character: Appalachian State University 2001

PUBLICATIONS

Books (2)

Wolfram, Walt, Mary Kohn, Janneke Van Hofwegen, and Charlie Farrington. Forthcoming. The Development of African American English: The First 20 Years of Life. Cambridge University Press. Summer, 2020.

Kohn, Mary. 2015. “The Way I Communicate Changes but How I Speak Don’t”: A Longitudinal Perspective on Adolescent Language Variation and Change. Publication of the American Dialect Society: Duke University Press.

Reviewed Publications (12)

Kohn, Mary. 2019. Latino English in new destinations: Processes of regionalization in emerging contact varieties. In Mexican American English: Substrate Influences and the Birth of an Ethnolect, ed. by Erik Thomas. Cambridge University Press. 268-290.

Kohn, Mary. 2018. (De)Segregation: The impact of de-facto and de-jure segregation on African American English in the New South. Proceedings from LAVIS IV: Language Variety in the South. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press. 223-240.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2017. Longitudinal sociophonetic analysis: What to expect when working with child and adolescent data. Using Panel Data in the Sociolinguistic Study of Variation and Change, ed. by Suzanne Evans Wagner and Isabelle Buchstaller. Routledge. 122-152.

Farrington, Charlie; Jennifer Renn; and Mary Kohn. 2017. The relationship between segregation and participation in ethnolectal variants: A longitudinal study. Acquiring Sociolinguistic Variation, ed. by Gunther De Vogelaer and Matthias Katerbow Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 185-212.

Kohn, Mary, and Anna Ladd. 2016. From papyrus to Play-Doh: A material approach to the development of writing. Teaching American Speech. 91(2): 254-261.

Wolfram, Walt, and Kohn, Mary. 2015. Regionality in the development of African American Language. The Oxford Handbook of African American Language (OHAAL), ed. by S. Lanehart, L. Green, and J. Bloomquist. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 140-159.

Owens, Jonathan; Robin Dodsworth; and Mary Kohn. 2013. Subject expression and discourse embeddedness in Emirati Arabic. Language Variation and Change 25.3: 255-285.

Dodsworth, Robin, and Mary Kohn. 2013. Dialect contact in a Southern U.S. city: Testing Trudgill’s model. Cognitive Sociolinguistics, ed. by M. Putz, M. Reif, and J. Robinson, 16-35. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 16-32.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2012. Speaker normalization: Evidence from longitudinal child data. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 131.3: 2237-2248.

Dodsworth, Robin, and Mary Kohn. 2012. Urban rejection of the vernacular: The SVS undone. Language Variation and Change 24.2: 221-245.

Wolfram, Walt; Mary Kohn; and Erin Callahan. 2011. Southern-bred Hispanic English: An emerging socioethnic variety. Selected Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. by J. Michnowicz and R. Dodsworth, 1-13. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. 1-13.

Kohn, Mary, and Hannah Franz. 2009. Localized patterns for global variants: The case of quotative systems of African American and Latino speakers. American Speech 84.3: 259-297.

Conference proceedings (3)

Risdal, Megan, and Mary Kohn. 2014. Ethnolectal and generational differences in vowel trajectories.  Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 20.2:139-148.

 Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2013. A tale of two cities: Community density and African American English vowels.  Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 19.2: 101-110.

Bolonyai, Agnes, and Mary Kohn. 2008. ‘Oh my gosh!’: Evaluation and voicing in narratives from a cross-linguistic perspective. A Supplement to the Proceedings from BUCLD 32: Boston University of Language Development, ed. by H. Chan, E. Kapia, and H. Jacob. Boston, MA.

INVITED TALKS, PANELS, and GUEST LECTURES

Kohn, Mary. 2018. Linguistic Life Stages and the Study of Sociolinguistic Change. The University of Kansas Linguistics Colloquium Series. Lawrence, KS. September 20.

Kohn, Mary. 2018. Supra-local change and social meaning: trap backing in the Great Plains. Michigan State University. Lansing, MI. March 22.

Kohn, Mary. 2017 Languages divided: Segregation and the role of linguistic prejudice in speaker evaluation. Championing Civility Week Engagement Symposium: Reconstructing Civility: Modes of Engagement for 2017. April 11.

Kohn, Mary. 2017. A new majority: Substrate influences and convergence in a Great Plains New Destination community. University of New Mexico Linguistics Brownbag. Albuquerque, NM. March 6.

Kohn, Mary. 2017. Three language myths and why you believe them. K-State Beyond the Classroom. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. Feb. 13.

Kohn, Mary. 2017. What are you listening for?: Silencing and amplifying divers voices. Third Annual College of Arts and Sciences Teach-In. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. Jan. 25.

Kohn, Mary. 2016. Linguistic life-stages and the study of sound change in sociolinguistics. Brownbag Seminar in Social and Cognitive Psychology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. March 23.

Kohn, Mary, and Carly Stithem.  2016. Kansas speaks…like California?  Oklahoma State University Friends of Oklahoma Language Sciences, Stillwater, OK. March 8.

Kohn, Mary. 2016. (De)Segregation: The Past and Future of African American English. Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C. January 8.

Kohn, Mary. 2015. (De)Segregation: The impact of de-facto and de-jure segregation on African American English in the New South. LAVIS IV: Language Variation in the South. Raleigh, NC. April.

Kohn, Mary. 2014. “People say I sound country”: African American English and the localized sound of an ethnolect. Invited talk at West Virginia University: Morgantown, WV. November.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2014. Finding our voice in sociophonetic analysis. Methods in Dialectolgy XV. Groningen, Netherlands. August.

Wolfram, Walt; Gillian Sankoff; John Rickford; Janneke Van Hofwege; Mary Kohn; and Charlie Farrington. 2012. Methodological concerns for longitudinal studies. Workshop presented at NWAV 41: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Bloomington, IN. October.

Kohn, Mary. 2011. Latino English in North Carolina: Dialect emergence in diverse communities. Eng 584/498: Studies in Linguistics/Ethnolinguistics. Instr: Walt Wolfram. English Department, North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC. March.

Kohn, Mary. 2010. African American English Phonology. LING 310: Formal Perspectives on African American English. Instr: J. Michael Terry. Linguistics Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Chapel Hill, NC. April.

Kohn, Mary. 2008. Latino English and the quotative system: How Latino kids in North Carolina talk about what other kids talk about. Eng 324: Modern English. Instr: Robin Dodsworth. English Department, North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC. February.

QUOTED IN MEDIA

Jolly, Jennifer. “’It’s Lit’: The ultimate guide to decoding your teen’s text and speak.” USA Today. August 10, 2018. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2018/08/10/ultimate-guide-understanding-teen-slang-and-text/936280002/

Giamo, Cara. “A New Accent is Developing in Southwest Kansas.” Atlas Obscura. June 15, 2018. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-accent-liberal-kansas

Bishama, Stephan. “Immigration to Southwest Kansas is Creating a New Accent.” KMUW 89.1. June 12, 2018.

Press Release. “A Liberal Accent: Linguistics team documents language changes in southwest Kansas. K-State News. June 11, 2018.

Midgley, Daniel.  “Teens Aren’t Destroying Language.” Because Language. Aug. 11 2017. http://becauselanguage.com/

LaFrance, Adrienne. “Teens Aren’t Ruining Language.” The Atlantic. Jan. 27, 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/blatantly-budge-and-other-dead-slang/431433/

“Teenagers’ role in language change is overstated, linguistics research finds.” K-State Media Release. Jan. 14, 2016. http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/jan16/kohn11416.html. Circulation: 35 international and national venues with a cumulative circulation of 5,000,000.

Cady, Nicholas. “Mary Kohn and the changing vowels of Kansas.” The Collegian. Dec. 4, 2015. http://www.kstatecollegian.com/2015/12/04/mary-kohn-and-the-changing-vowels-of-kansas/

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

García, Trevin, and Mary Kohn. 2018. Lateral production in Liberal, Kansas: Minority alignment to the new majority. Paper presented at NWAV 47: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. New York, NY. October.

Villarreal, Dan, and Mary Kohn. 2018. Local meaning for supra-local change: A perception study of TRAP backing in Kansas. Paper presented at Sociolinguistic Symposium 22. Auckland, NZ. June.

Dan Villarreal, Mary Kohn, and Tiffany Hattesohl*. 2017. Local meaning for supra-local change: A perception study of TRAP backing in Kansas. Paper to be presented at NWAV 46: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Madison, WI. November.

Mary Kohn, Addison Dickens*, and Trevin García*. 2016. “That Spanish Twang”: Speaker rhythm and accommodation in a Great Plains high school. Paper presented at NWAV 45: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Vancouver, CA. November 4.

Mary Kohn, Addison Dickens*, and Trevin García*. 2016. A new majority: Latino English and the Third Vowel Shift in Liberal, Kansas. Paper presented at NWAV 45: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Vancouver, CA. November 5.

Mary Kohn, Tiffany Hatttesohl*, and Carly Stithem. 2016. A new majority: Latino English in Liberal, Kansas. Poster presented at Institute for Student Learning Assessment Diversity Summit. Manhattan, KS. November.

Alexis, Cydney, Brent Weaver, Cheryl Rauh, and Mary Kohn. 2016. The “extracurriculars” of writing center work: Administrative and research skill building. IWCA: The International Writing Centers Association. Denver, CO. October.

Garcia, Trevin*, and Mary Kohn. 2016. Latino English in the Heartland. SALSA XXIV: Symposium about Language and Society. Austin, TX. April.

Kohn, Mary, and Carly Stithem. 2016. H/O/me on the range: Back vowel fronting in Kansas. Paper presented at ADS: American Dialect Society. Washington, DC. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Carly Stithem. 2015. The Third Vowel Shift in Kansas: A supra-regional shift with regional variation. Paper presented at NWAV 44: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Toronto, Canada. October.

Kohn, Mary, and Erin Callahan. 2015. Local and supra-local variation in Latino English. Paper presented at ADS: American Dialect Society. Portland, OR. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2014. Changing individuals, changing language?. Paper presented at SCIHS 3: Sound Change in Interacting Human Systems. Berkley, CA. May.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2014. Growing up gay in the heterosexual marketplace: A study of language change across adolescence. Paper presented at UNC Spring Colloquium. UNC, Chapel Hill. March.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2013. Language variation on the move: A longitudinal study of mobile and non-mobile adolescents. Paper presented at NWAV 42: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Pittsburgh, PA. October.

Risdal, Megan, and Mary Kohn. 2013. Ethnolectal and generational differences in vowel trajectories. Paper presented at NWAV 42: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Pittsburgh, PA. October.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2013. The shifty vowels of African American English youth: A longitudinal study. Paper presented at LSA 87: Linguistic Society of America 2013 Annual Meeting. Boston, MA. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2013. ‘Girls say I sound country’: Correlating African American metalinguistic awareness with vowel production. Paper presented at ADS: American Dialect Society. Boston, MA. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2012. A tale of two cities: Community density and African American English vowels. Paper presented at NWAV 41: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Bloomington, IN. October.

Kohn, Mary. 2012. Child English bare verbs: One surface form, two sources. Poster presented at LSA 86: Linguistic Society of America 2012 Annual Meeting. Portland, OR. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2012. A longitudinal analysis of African American Vernacular English Vowels. Paper presented at LSA 86: Linguistic Society of America 2012 Annual Meeting. Portland, OR. January.

Kohn, Mary, and Charlie Farrington. 2011. The socio-regional distribution of African American Vowel systems in Piedmont, North Carolina. Paper presented at NWAV 40: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Washington, D.C. November.

Kohn, Mary; Charlie Farrington; and David Ethier. 2010. The more things change, the more (some) things stay the same: A longitudinal analysis of the vowel spaces in childhood and adolescent African American English. Paper presented at NWAV 39: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. San Antonio, TX. November.

Kohn, Mary; Charlie Farrington; and David Ethier. 2010. Shift in the development of African American English: A longitudinal study. Paper presented at SECOL 77: Southeastern Conference on Linguistics. Oxford, MS. April.

Dodsworth, Robin, and Mary Kohn. 2009. Urban and rural African American English vowels in North Carolina: A supra-regional shift and regional accommodation. Paper presented at NWAV 38: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Ottawa, ON. October.

Kohn, Mary, and Melissa Farr. 2009. Getting rhythm: A methodological comparison of quantitative speech rhythm analyses. Paper presented at SECOL 76: Southeastern Conference on Linguistics. New Orleans, LA. April.

Kohn, Mary, and Janneke Van Hofwegen. 2009. The diversity and stability of vocalic variation among bidialectal and bilingual children. Paper presented at ADS: American Dialect Society. San Francisco, CA. January.

Dodsworth, Robin, and Mary Kohn. 2008. An exploratory study of front vowels in Raleigh, NC. Paper presented at NWAV 37: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Houston, TX. November.

Kohn, Mary, and Hannah Askin. 2008. I be like, ‘He talked about what he talked about’: Latino and African American English quotative system. Paper presented at SECOL 75: South Eastern Conference on Linguistics. Knoxville, TN. April.

Wolfram, Walt; Mary Kohn; and Erin Callahan. 2008. Southern-bred ESL: Hispanic English in the Mid-Atlantic South. Plenary presented at TALGS ‘08: TESOL/Applied Linguistics Graduate Students Conference. Greenville, NC. February.

Kohn, Mary. 2007. Systems theory and the description of emerging patterns of language variation. Paper presented at NWAV 36: New Ways of Analyzing Language Variation. Philadelphia, PA. October.

Cullinan, Danica, and Mary Kohn. 2007. Negotiation of Hispanic identity in Hickory, NC. Paper presented at SECOL 74: South Eastern Conference on Linguistics. Natchitoches, LA. April.

Callahan, Erin; Danica Cullinan; and Mary Kohn. 2007. New ethnic varieties of English: Hispanic English in North Carolina. Paper presented at TALGS ‘07: TESOL/Applied Linguistics Graduate Students Conference. Greenville, NC. February.

RESEARCH, FIELDWORK, AND RELATED EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant with the Frank Porter Graham Project 2009-2013
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Performed interviews, coordinated the extraction of vocalic data, trained students on vowel extraction, wrote PERL and PRAAT scripts for managing data, performed statistical analysis with R and SAS, and presented results for The Frank Porter Graham Project, a project headed by Dr. Walt Wolfram.

Research Assistant with the Language Variation in Raleigh Project 2008-2013
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Performed interviews, acoustically analyzed vocalic data, trained fieldworkers, wrote PERL and PRAAT scripts for managing data, and assisted in presenting results for Language Variation in Raleigh, a project headed by Dr. Robin Dodsworth.

Research Assistant with the Durham Public Schools Project Spring 2009
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Performed fieldwork and data analysis in Spanish and English, collected a combination of forty interviews and testing batteries, and assisted with archiving in order to examine emerging varieties of Spanish and Latino English in the Southeastern United States.

Video Co-Editor 2007
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Designed, filmed, and edited an informational DVD using Final Cut Pro software on behalf of the LTN Teacher Education Program of the NC State Department of English.

Lab Assistant 2006-2008
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Packaged, shipped and tracked orders for the North Carolina Life and Language Project. Maintained lab equipment, digitized recordings, and archived sociolinguistic interviews.

Child Mental Health Case Manager 2004-2006
Families Together, Asheville, NC
Established Title IX compliance by offering mental health case management and in-home services for Spanish-speaking families, as well as recruiting bilingual staff and identifying Spanish-language resources in the community. Also provided in-home support, service coordination, family systems intervention, behavior modification, assessment, and twenty-four hour on-call crisis intervention services to clients. Received one promotion.

ESL Educational Interpreter 2003-2004
Hickory Public Schools, Hickory, NC
Assessed English Proficiency, interpreted for psychological and other evaluations, enrolled all multilingual students, coordinated and interpreted for parent-teacher conferences, provided community outreach, made home visits, and linked ESL students to appropriate services.

LANGUAGES

Native English Speaker, Strong Spanish Proficiency, teaching knowledge of Old English
Spanish skills developed through one semester of full immersion at La Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica. Expanded skills through work and volunteer experience with Spanish speaking populations as well as conducting Spanish/English sociolinguistic interviews in fieldwork.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND STATISTICAL SOFTWARE

Trained in Praat, and R. Training in progress for Python.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

  • Faculty Coordinator of the Dairy City Bilingual Partnership 2018-present
  • Faculty Coordinator of the Bluestem Language Symposium 2017
  • Assistant Faculty Member of the Sexual Health Forum at KSU 2017
  • 4-H Special Interest Club Volunteer in Linguistics 2015
  • UNC, Chapel Hill Linguistics: Armchair Linguistics Coordinator Fall  2010-2011
  • UNC, Chapel Hill Linguistics: Vice President of Graduate Linguistics Association 2009-2010
  • Spanish/English Translator for North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc. 2010-2012
  • Member of Appalachian State University Women’s Center 1999-2001

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS AND INTERESTS

• Member of the Linguistic Society of America, the American Dialect Society, the South Eastern Conference on Language, and the North Carolina Language and Life Project.
• Interests include language variation and change, sociophonetics and acoustic analysis, language contact, cultural geography and social cognition, ethnicity and language