SLA and Sociolinguistic Variation

Research Strand

Dr. Fafulas incorporates current theories and methodologies in Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition to examine morpho-syntactic and phonetic variation in native, learner, and contact varieties of language. He employs quantitative methods to uncover the social, linguistic, and cognitive factors that shape languages at the individual and societal level.

This image is a conceptual mock-up of the forthcoming book

and does not represent the final, publisher-approved cover design.

Sociolinguistic Variation and Second Language Acquisition:
A Methodological Research Guide
Book under contract with Routledge

This book is a research methods guide for students and scholars working within sociolinguistic variationist approaches to second language acquisition. It synthesizes key findings, insights, and applications from recent decades and guides readers through the steps required to design and conduct original research studies in this growing field.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Kanwit, M., Geeslin, K., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Study abroad and the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain. Probus, 27(2), 307–348.

Fafulas, S. (2015). The Pear Stories Film: Simple Presents and Present Progressives in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Estudos Linguísticos/Linguistic Studies, 11, 61–81.

Fafulas, S. (2015). Progressive Constructions in Native-Speaker and Adult-Acquired Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(1), 85–133.

Fafulas, S. (2012). Nuevas perspectivas sobre la variación de las formas presente simple y presente progresivo en español y en inglés. Spanish in Context, 9(1), 58–87.

Fafulas, S. (2010). The Acquisition of a Morphosyntactic Variable in Spanish: The Analytic and Synthetic Verb Forms of Present Progressive Aspect. IULC Working Papers, 10(1), 1–19.

Fafulas, S., & Díaz-Campos, M. (2010). Variación morfosintáctica y lenguas en contacto: Las formas analíticas y sintéticas del presente progresivo en el español monolingüe y bilingüe. Boletín de Filología, 45(2), 71–89.

BOOK CHAPTERS/ CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Fafulas, S., Raymond, C.W., & Woods, M. (2025). La variación fonológica del español hondureño. In Díaz-Campos, M. & Hernández-Campoy, J.M. (Eds.), Enciclopedia concisa de los dialectos del español en el mundo (pp. 323–332). Wiley.

Geeslin, K., Evans-Sago, T., Fafulas, S., & Goebel-Mahrle, T. (2024). The second language acquisition of variation in adulthood. In I. Sanz-Sánchez (Ed.), Language acquisition across the lifespan and language change: Applications in historical sociolinguistics (pp. 64–83). John Benjamins.

Fafulas, S., Hearn, S., & Fionda, M. (2023). Short-term Study Abroad and Dialect Acquisition: An Analysis of the Personal Pronoun Ustedes with Verb-2pl and 2pl-Indirect Object Pronoun Constructions by L2 Learners of Spanish in Andalucía. In Zahler, S., Long, A., & Linford, B. (Eds.), Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish (pp. 204–228). John Benjamins.

Geeslin, K., & Fafulas, S. (2022). Linguistic variation and second language Spanish: A study of progressive and habitual marking by English-speaking learners. In Bayley, R., Preston, D., and Li, X. (Eds.), Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic perspectives (pp. 159–198). John Benjamins.

Schmidt, L., Linford, B., & Fafulas, S. (2022). Regional Variation. In Geeslin, K. (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics (pp. 126–137). Routledge.

Fafulas, S. (2021). Variation of the simple present and present progressive: Peruvian Spanish, ‘Pear Story,’ and language contact, oh my! In M. Díaz-Campos, M. (Ed.), The Handbook of Variationist Approaches to Spanish (pp. 328–344). Routledge.

Fafulas, S., Díaz-Campos, M., & Gradoville, M. (2018). Stable Variation or Change in Progress? A Sociolinguistic Analysis of PA(RA) in the Spanish of Venezuela. In J. King & S. Sessarego (Eds.), Language Variation and Contact-Induced Change: Spanish across Space and Time (pp. 223–245). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Geeslin, K., Linford, B., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Variable subject expression in second language Spanish: Uncovering the developmental sequence and predictive linguistic factors. In A. M. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Lapidus Shin (Eds.), Subject Pronoun Expression in Spanish: A Cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 191–210). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Geeslin, K., Linford, B., Fafulas, S., Long, A., & Díaz-Campos, M. (2013). The L2 Development of Subject Form Variation in Spanish: The Individual vs. the Group. In J. Cabrelli Amaro et al. (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 156–174). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Geeslin, K., Fafulas, S., & Kanwit, M. (2013). Acquiring geographically-variable norms of use: The case of the present perfect in Mexico and Spain. In C. Howe, S. E. Blackwell, & M. Lubbers Quesada (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 205–220). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Geeslin, K., & Fafulas, S. (2012). Variation of the Simple Present and Present Progressive Forms: A Comparison of Native and Non-native Speakers. In K. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 179–196). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Díaz-Campos, M., Fafulas, S., & Gradoville, M. (2012). Variable degrees of constituency: Frequency effects in the alternation of pa vs. para in spoken discourse. In K. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 75–87). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Díaz-Campos, M., Fafulas, S., & Gradoville, M. (2011). Going Retro: An Analysis of the Interplay between Socioeconomic Class and Age in Caracas Spanish. In J. Michnowicz & R. Dodsworth (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 65–78). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

BOOK REVIEWS

Fafulas, S. (2017). Review of the book A Framework for Cognitive Sociolinguistics by F. Moreno-Fernández. Southern Journal of Linguistics, 41(1), 103–112.

Fafulas, S., & Díaz-Campos, M. (2016). Review of the volume Perspectives in the Study of Spanish Language Variation: Papers in Honor of Carmen Silva-Corvalán by A. Enrique-Arias, M. Gutiérrez, A. Landa, & F. Ocampo (Eds.), Verba Anexo 72. Spanish in Context, 13(1), 159–162.

PUBLIC ESSAYS

Fafulas, S. (2014). Language Contact and Linguistic Diversity. Hiedra, 1(2), 111–116.

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION/UNDER REVIEW

Fafulas, S., Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M., & O’Rourke, E. Attitudes towards non-standard varieties: the case of Peruvian Amazonian Spanish.

Fafulas, S. The Aspect Hypothesis and Development of the Progressive in L2 Spanish.

Killam, J., Fafulas, S., & Geeslin, K. The development of subordination in L2 Spanish.