The Team

Carlos Subirats

My current passion is analyzing the lexicon from a cognitive perspective. I want to understand how different semantic domains are conceptualized in Spanish in contrast with other languages; this is the aim of the Spanish FrameNet project, within which I am the principal investigator. It seems I am fated to do work that relates to natural language processing; since the beginning of my professional career, I have constantly found myself entangled in such endeavors. Or in other words, no matter what I'm working on, I have always been chained to a computer.

I don't know whether to call using information technology to disseminate information about Spanish linguistics a passion of mine or whether it might be more accurate to say it is an obsession, given how much of my time in the past fifteen years has been dedicated to that cause. My dream is to wake up one morning and find that someone out there, somewhere on this planet, has begun to email me regular updates about what’s going on in Spanish linguistics throughout the world. Until that dream becomes a reality, I will hold steady at the helm of Infoling.

I am a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. I believe that the Spanish university system, of which AUB is a part, is fundamentally broken. Higher education in Spain is in a state of decay; this is why not a single Spanish university is among the top 200 in the world. The only politically viable way to deal with this deteriorating system would be to let it collapse gradually while creating a new, parallel network of universities that had to compete with each other for better state funding. Only then could we have universities where quality instruction and innovative research were the real driving forces in academic life.

I love jazz—flamenco jazz, all kinds of jazz. My current idol is Chano Domínguez. I want to be a musician in my next life.

Mar Cruz Piñol

My main research interest is in using technology to aid in language teaching and learning, especially teaching Spanish as a foreign language. As happens with everything in life, I ended up working in this field partly by accident and partly due to my natural predilections; I've always been attracted to languages, machines, and discovering worlds that are different from mine. And perhaps because I'm interested in so many things, I consider systems that enable us to organize, store, and share knowledge to be essential. This is why I have always believed in Infoling, despite our limited means. My interest in the processing and management of linguistic data has also steered me into research in corpus linguistics—especially in how it can be used for language teaching. I am fascinated by all of the applications of linguistics and its relations to other disciplines.

Since 1995, I have been a Professor of Spanish in the School of Philology at the University of Barcelona. I am proud to be part of a university that is so closely linked to my city’s past and present—and thereby to my own history. I really enjoy teaching, especially hands-on interactive sessions. Every day, I am fortunate enough to be with students who are both interested and interesting, and who challenge me with their questions and show me how our social fabric is evolving. I believe in a university that serves society.

To make up for all the time I spend with technology at work, I stay away from it in my free time. I prefer to go out with friends, talk, take walks, and enjoy nature. The simple things in life.

CV: Projects and Publications

Yvette Bürki

After ten years of working at my alma mater, the Institute for Ibero-Romance Languages at the University of Basel, where I experienced all of the seasons of academic life—undergraduate student, graduate student, and professor—in February 2010, I took a position as a professor of Spanish Linguistics at the Institute for Spanish Language and Literatures at the University of Bern.

I owe my interest in Sephardic studies, particularly in the fascinating world of Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino), to Professor Beatrice Schmid at the Institute for Ibero-Romance Languages, who has been working in this area for ten years and has built an important Judaeo-Spanish research center within the Institute..

I believe in an independent, competitive university, at the service of society and free of nepotism, whose main objectives are providing good education to its students and fostering quality research.

When I'm not wrestling with linguistic questions, I'm usually in the kitchen. I love cooking and trying dishes from all over the world, though I must admit that—perhaps simply due to my love for my native land—Peruvian cuisine is one of my favorites.

I also spend part of my free time watching good films. Fortunately, the offerings in Switzerland are of excellent quality, and I've found many real cinematic gems that are outside the mainstream. Finally, I'm a great believer in the saying "A sound mind in a sound body", so I try to get some exercise at least once a week.

Personal page (Instituto de Lengua y Literaturas españolas, Universität Bern)

Wendy Elvira-García

Wendy Elvira-García (Cantabria, 1989). Fui una niña buena en ciencias a la que le gustaban más las letras, un disgusto para cualquier abuela, vamos. Supongo que, por eso, pese a estudiar Filología, siempre me decanté por las opciones más técnicas que me permitía nuestra área y así acabé acercándome a la fonética y a la programación en general. Así que me gustan las tareas que aúnan lengua y tecnología para intentar crear una sociedad mejor, ya sea en el ámbito clínico, o para crear comunicación con máquinas. Creo firmemente que el conocimiento generado en la universidad no sirve de nada si no llega a la gente y de ahí que también haya hecho formación de enseñanza de la pronunciación para profes de E/LE, aplicaciones para ayudar a la gente a hablar en público o incluso una exposición sobre lingüística para un museo. He dado clases de Lingüística forense, Fonética experimental, Fonología de laboratorio, Fonética, Lingüística de corpus, Industrias de la lengua y lingüísticas varias, en universidades varias y si me lo preguntáis el semestre que viene, seguro que puedo añadir alguna más. Me gusta desmontar y montar cosas. Así que, como ya soy mayor para hacer legos, monto muebles de IKEA. Podéis ver los detalles de mi vida académica en: http://www.wendyelvira.ga/

Paloma Garrido Íñigo

I owe my interest in linguistics, especially in syntax, to three people: Covadonga López Alonso, who opened my eyes to linguistics and supervised my dissertation; Maurice Gross, who taught me about Lexicon Grammar and supervised my Master's project; and Carlos Subirats, whom I met when I spent a semester in 1999 working with him and his team at the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Ever since, he has always invited me to participate in his projects and continued to teach me more about wonderful worlds like syntax and semantics.

I should take the opportunity to make it clear, in case there was ever any doubt, that all linguists are at least a little bit crazy. The only sane person on this team is our programmer, whom we torture by constantly demanding new widgets to help us with natural language processing.

In addition to the above, I am an associate professor at Rey Juan Carlos University, where I teach French. (Like a good Gemini, I have an undergraduate degree in French Philology and a doctorate in Spanish Philology.)

After years of research in NLP and virtual worlds, I have found that there is no better way to relax than to come back to the real world and have a few beers with my friends.

At Infoling, I am in charge of the Job Openings section. I am happy that we’re all doing this for the love of it—and, in my case, as a way to give back to society a little bit for all the good fortune I've had in my life.

Matthias Raab

Vine a tierras catalanas con la idea de cursar un máster y, años más tarde, sigo aquí, disfrutando de un contrato de profesor asociado de lengua española en la Universitat de Barcelona y siendo traductor y colaborador libre de varias editoriales nacionales e internacionales.

Empecé mi andadura por el mundo académico como becario FPU en el seno del proyecto Diccionario del castellano del Siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón (DiCCA-XV, http://stel.ub.edu/diccaxv), dirigido por la Dra. Coloma Lleal. De dicho proyecto de investigación también se desprende mi tesis doctoral sobre neología en el castellano oriental de la época mencionada (http://infoling.org/search/tesis/ID/136).

He impartido clases de gramática, semántica, lexicología y morfología, sintaxis e historia de la lengua españolas. Mis tareas investigadoras abarcan cuestiones de morfología histórica, lexicografía, lexicología y, aunque solo puntualmente, sintaxis histórica de la lengua española.

Como licenciado en Filología Románica y Ciencias Políticas me interesan, además, temas relacionados con otras lenguas románicas, sobre todo, el catalán, el italiano y, en general, las zonas de contacto de lenguas y el politiqueo español (sobre todo en estos tiempos revueltos).

Aparte de la filología y la política, me encantan la lectura y la música, en particular, mi piano, que toco desde los cuatro años. En verano, me gusta pasar los días con amigos en la playa y cuando el tiempo y la economía me lo permiten, me escapo a las Islas Canarias o Baleares.

Laura Romero Aguilera

After more than three years as a graduate student, in September 2009 I began my career as a university lecturer. On top of teaching, I am also involved in two different research projects. I am part of a research group headed by Dr. Coloma Lleal that is putting together a Diccionario general y etimológico del castellano del Siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón(General and Etymological Dictionary of Fifteenth-Century Castilian Spanish in the Crown of Aragon). My other project is my doctoral dissertation, supervised by Dr. Emília Anglada Arboix, in which I am developing a historical linguistic analysis of the representation of collocational units in Spanish dictionaries.

I was fortunate to be on the Board of Directors of the Asociación de Jóvenes Investigadores de Historiografía e Historia de la Lengua Española(Association of Young Researchers in the History and Historiography of the Spanish Language), where young scholars who are trying to carve a niche for themselves in the difficult world of research in historical linguistics can find a venue for scientific exchange and, most importantly, an environment of mutual respect for our work.

I can't help being fascinated by the possibilities offered by new technologies, so when I was invited to participate in Infoling, I didn't hesitate for an instant. The idea of contributing in some way to such an initiative was a very attractive prospect for me: 15 years disseminating information on Spanish linguistics, 4,100 subscribers, over 50 countries...

When I need to breathe some non-academic air, I escape to Poblado de Algar in Córdoba, Spain, a tiny village with just over 120 people, where the professional fades into the background and the personal comes to the fore. Music, books and family are always my faithful travel companions.

CV

Paolo Roseano

Crecí en Agrons, una aldea de los Alpes, rodeado de árboles, ardillas y lenguas extrañas. De ahí, supongo, mi pasión por los idiomas. Con los años tuve la suerte de poderme dedicar profesionalmente a lo que más me gustaba. Empecé como profesor asociado en varias universidades de aquel rincón de Europa, que va desde los Alpes Orientales hasta los Balcanes. Veinte años después sigo como profesor asociado, pero en un sitio con mejor clima. De hecho, en 2005 migré hacia el Sur y, después de aterrizar en la orilla del Mediterráneo, me instalé en la Universitat de Barcelona, lugar en el que he podido dedicarme a la fonética de las lenguas románicas. Actualmente, mi tema de investigación principal es la entonación.

He impartido clases de gramática del español, de italiano, de historia de la lengua española, de friulano, de sociolingüística, de sociología, de sintaxis y, obviamente, de fonética. Me gustaría poder afirmar que en mi tiempo libre me dedico a algo interesante, pero la triste realidad es que a duras penas tengo tiempo de prepararme un platito de Kaiserschmarrn entre la preparación de una clase y la revisión de un artículo.

Marc Ortega Gil

Ever since I entered the world of information technology, with the help of a humble ZX Spectrum 16, I've always had a keyboard near to hand. Programming is my passion, and I've turned it into a career. My other great love has always been natural language processing—it all began when I was little, when I discovered HAL 9000. I still believe in thinking machines. And although time and age have lowered my expectations, I\'m still enchanted by the idea. I like to think I am in some small way furthering progress toward something that for now is only fully possible in the movies.

For the last 11 years, I have been researching and developing natural language processing systems as a member of several research projects, currently including the Spanish FrameNet project. I am also an associate professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

I'm lucky to be part of an initiative like Infoling, and to have been able to contribute by developing a new submissions and search system that will improve how we provide information on Spanish linguistics.

To get away from the computer screen, I focus on my other great passion, my family. I like to spend time enjoying their company, reading a good book on a quiet beach, doing anything that will keep me from thinking...about thinking machines.

Alexandra Álvarez

We live in language and we live in society through language, like Juan Luis Guerra’s fish in the fishbowl. Studying language is therefore not only vital, it is also enjoyable. I began with learning the usual languages, because they were useful, and from there I moved on to studying philology and linguistics. I attended the Central University of Venezuela during a very interesting moment in its history, the so-called Renewal of the School of Letters. Despite the constant movement of living in "No-Man’s Land", that world was present and calm, a haven of beautiful sculptures and amazing libraries. There I was fortunate to be surrounded by prestigious linguists, who met regularly with colleagues from all over the country and all over the world; this made language an object of great interest and enjoyment for me.

I earned my Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University in the United States before joining the University of the Andes and its young and dynamic department, where studying linguistics became my lifelong project. I'm now retired from my position as a professor, but this really means very little, as I am still active in my work. My current research interest is in the discourse analysis of politeness and identity, including some work on political discourse. I am a member of the Grupo de Lingüística Hispánica (Spanish Linguistics Group). I have published some books, among them Malabí-Maticulambí: Estudios afrocaribeños (Malabí-Maticulambí: Afro-Caribbean Studies, 1987), Cortesía y descortesía: teoría y praxis de un sistema de significación (Politeness and Impoliteness: Theory and Praxis in a System of Meanings, 2005), Textos sociolingüísticos (Sociolinguistic Texts, 2007) y Poética del habla cotidiana (The Poetics of Everyday Language, 2008, new edition). Two of these titles were published in Estudios de Lingüistica del Español (Studies in Spanish Linguistics).

María Luisa Calero

Ever since I was a little girl, I remember having been fascinated by antiquarian bookshops. Perhaps my passion for old books foreshadowed my present dedication to studying the history of linguistics, particularly the history of Spanish grammar. I have spent more than half my life engaged with those disciplines, and I hope to spend the rest of it continuing to be amazed by languages and their magic. I am currently a professor of General Linguistics at the University of Córdoba in Spain. That is my basecamp, but since I do not believe universities should be static, isolated entities, I am always ready to travel to other places to share experiences and knowledge with colleagues. I recognize how much I have learned from the scholars who have preceded me; I am in their debt. I am equally indebted to my current colleagues and students. I have worked with some of those colleagues for many years in the research group Lenguajes; I have worked with my students exploring semiotics, terminology, the history of linguistics, semantics, general linguistics, and many other things.

I have also learned a lot from the School of Life; I feel connected to nature, which I respect and care for as much as I can manage. A good classic film, a walk between the columns of Córdoba’s mosque, getting lost in the labyrinth of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, reading a story by Alice Munroe or Dino Buzzatti... These are the essential pleasures in life.

Luis Cortés

On November 30, 1973, I made my way to the Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu in Madrid to choose my new work placement, having just passed the civil-service exams to become the highest level of instructor in the secondary-school system. The most important factors that influenced my decision that day were that Antonio Llorente, who had been one of my professors when I was at the University of Granada, had relocated to Salamanca in 1973, and that I wanted to write my doctoral thesis under his supervision. Those exams, that professor, and that thesis have determined the course not only of my research but of my life. In our first meeting, Prof. Llorente told me about the new field of sociolinguistics and about one of his students, Julio Borrego, who had been working in that field for some time. He told me that he would consult with Prof. Manuel Alvar about it, as indeed he did. And so it all began.

It was not easy at first, because for a long time the boundaries between linguistic sociology, sociolinguistics (variationist and non), social dialectology, anthropological linguistics, conversational analysis, and ethnolinguistics remained fuzzy; any research on language in use could be said to belong to any of those disciplines. But little by little, things changed: each subfield found its place and defined its boundaries, much to the relief of the researchers. The grammar of conversation, the analysis of spoken language, the discourse markers, the journal Oralia, the enumerated lists, the pragmatic analyses, the professorship in Spanish Language at the University of Almería... And so it all continued.

After many years of admiring the toils of Carlos Subirats and the Infoling team, it was a great pleasure to be called upon to collaborate with them in producing this wellspring of information, as useful as it is necessary. And so it all ended?

ILSE Research Group

Miroslava Cruz Aldrete

Miroslava Cruz Aldrete es chilanga de nacimiento (1971) y de corazón; maestra de sordos y encantadora de gatos. Es doctora en lingüística por El Colegio de México, escribió la primera gramática de la Lengua de Señas Mexicana (2008). Es profesora-investigadora de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos en donde dirige el Laboratorio de Lengua de Señas Mexicana. Forma parte de distintas redes de investigación que abordan el estudio adquisición de la lengua de señas como primera lengua. Se interesa por la enseñanza del español como segunda lengua (forma escrita) para los sordos usuarios de la LSM.

Su tiempo libre lo dedica a recorrer los barrios bohemios de la ciudad de México, conoce los nuevos cafés y mezcalerías, pero no puede dejar de pasar por la sección de cuentos infantiles de las librerías para aumentar su gran colección; pues abriga la esperanza de convertirse en una cuenta cuentos para despertar en los niños el interés por la lectura y la escritura, o bien para que al menos pasen un momento divertido.

Cuando le propusieron ser parte del equipo de Infoling no pudo menos que gritar y hacer señas de alegría, considera que es un reto, pero, principalmente, un gusto y un privilegio, poder difundir los estudios que se hacen sobre las lenguas de señas de América.

Marta Estevez Grossi

Tuve la suerte de nacer y crecer en Galicia lo cual, entre otras muchas cosas, despertó muy pronto mi interés por la sociolingüística y la relación entre lengua, política y sociedad. Mi fascinación por las lenguas (extranjeras y propias), me llevó a estudiar Traducción e Interpretación en la Universidade de Vigo y a entrar en contacto, casi de manera fortuita, con la lengua alemana.

Desde 2010 vivo en Alemania y he pasado por la Freie Universität Berlin, donde fui lectora de gallego, por la Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, donde realicé el doctorado, y por la Leibniz Universität Hannover, donde en la actualidad trabajo como investigadora potsdoctoral en el área de lingüística del Departamento de Románicas (https://www.romanistik.phil.uni-hannover.de/estevez-grossi.html).

En mi tesis doctoral combiné la lingüística (migratoria) con la traducción (e interpretación en los servicios públicos) para analizar la situación lingüística y la provisión de servicios de interpretación en la migración gallega en Alemania. Actualmente estoy estudiando los procesos de simplificación y reducción de la complejidad lingüística de textos legales en Quebec y América Latina.

Creo en una universidad en la que se fomente el pensamiento crítico y el compromiso social. En ese sentido, colaboro en la formación y profesionalización de intérpretes en el ámbito social en diversas instituciones.

Laura Romero Aguilera

After more than three years as a graduate student, in September 2009 I began my career as a university lecturer. On top of teaching, I am also involved in two different research projects. I am part of a research group headed by Dr. Coloma Lleal that is putting together a Diccionario general y etimológico del castellano del Siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón(General and Etymological Dictionary of Fifteenth-Century Castilian Spanish in the Crown of Aragon). My other project is my doctoral dissertation, supervised by Dr. Emília Anglada Arboix, in which I am developing a historical linguistic analysis of the representation of collocational units in Spanish dictionaries.

I was fortunate to be on the Board of Directors of the Asociación de Jóvenes Investigadores de Historiografía e Historia de la Lengua Española(Association of Young Researchers in the History and Historiography of the Spanish Language), where young scholars who are trying to carve a niche for themselves in the difficult world of research in historical linguistics can find a venue for scientific exchange and, most importantly, an environment of mutual respect for our work.

I can't help being fascinated by the possibilities offered by new technologies, so when I was invited to participate in Infoling, I didn't hesitate for an instant. The idea of contributing in some way to such an initiative was a very attractive prospect for me: 15 years disseminating information on Spanish linguistics, 4,100 subscribers, over 50 countries...

When I need to breathe some non-academic air, I escape to Poblado de Algar in Córdoba, Spain, a tiny village with just over 120 people, where the professional fades into the background and the personal comes to the fore. Music, books and family are always my faithful travel companions.

CV