I’m an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Michigan State University. I study the social meaning of linguistic variation, with the goal of understanding what motivates language change. I’m especially interested in individual participation in community linguistic change across the lifespan, and how we can differentiate this from age grading. More recently, I have also been investigating generational sound change here in Michigan. I’m the co-PI for the MI Diaries project, headed by my colleague Betsy Sneller. We are also the co-directors of the MSU Sociolinguistics Lab.
I’m a co-editor of the Routledge series Studies in Language Change with Isabelle Buchstaller. Contact me if you have a book project idea.