Chantal Gratton
Chantal Gratton

I'm a doctoral candidate in the linguistics program at Stanford University and I received my master's degree from York University.

I am primarily interested in sociophonetic variation and my research focuses on interactional and stylistic uses of linguistic variation. My work has examined:

  • the variable use of pitch and the vowel space as tools for stance-taking and alignment for non-binary transgender speakers
  • the semiotic link between prosody, the body, and forms of physical activity (with Lewis Esposito)
  • the relationship between vowel space peripherality and affective meanings


Feel free to contact me at: gratton@stanford.edu
NWAV 48: Forests and Trees
10-12.10.2019
LSA 2019 Annual Meeting
03-06.01.2019
NWAV 47: Methods and Innovation
18-21.10.2018

Current Research

Affect and vowel space peripherality

Affect plays an important role in the ebbs and flows of a variable's use throughout an interaction. Despite this, it remains under-theorized in sociolinguistic, though some recent proposals note the important of affect for linguistic variation (e.g., Eckert 2010; Podesva 2016). My current work examines affect in a way that provides insights into a thorough different type of social factor: 'visceral' feeling. To get at such social meanings, I examine variation in vowel space peripherality, a novel aspect of vowel quality that appears to be rooted in affective meaning.

Miscellaneous

Background

The background image was taken at Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple) in Chiang Rai, Thailand. This art exhibit by Chalermchai Kositpipat is in the style of a Buddhist temple and features many amazing sculptures, including the photographed hands.


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